Power
by Amthyst
Summary: Mai's developing powers have taken a turn for the worst. As they grow out of control, not only does she pose a danger to others, but to herself as well. Destruction seems to be the only answer, as another secret comes to the surface. Usual Pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Power

Chapter 1

It had been one year since Naru, the Narcissist returned from England after burying his twin brother Gene and reopened SPR. He had gathered his former employees and gave them their old jobs back, including Mai Taniyama. She had continued as a part-time investigator after he had left throwing her confession in the air by saying that she was in love with Gene and not him. He had left her confused and broken, but she knew deep inside her heart that she loved Naru as well, she had a year to think about it and she was positive, though she had to admit that she loved Gene as well but since he was dead she had settled her feelings with Naru. Though after returning from England he didn't acknowledge that there was any change in his feelings or not.

He had gone back to treating her like he always did, demanding for tea and teasing her about her intelligence level and a whole lot of other things. These little sessions had always left a fuming and red Mai behind. Though she was a little embarrassed knowing that Naru now knew how she felt about him, she was glad that nothing had changed between them even despite the revelation. Altogether she was ecstatic that she was reunited with her family.

She changed somewhat in appearance, her hair now reached her waist and she had gotten herself a pair of glasses, her eyesight had grown horrendous over the year, she not conveying the reason to anybody since she didn't want them to worry about her too much. She knew that if they ever came to find out that she had glaucoma they would just fuss over her too much, and she didn't want that to happen. Other than that she was going through financial crisis since the eye drops and medications she got for her glaucoma were dead expensive. She knew there was no cure for glaucoma but some surgeries had short-term effects but they were out of her range.

The doctor had diagnosed her with closed angle glaucoma, it being the dangerous of the two types since it came with its own handful of symptoms: nausea, vomiting, headaches, migraines and also a red eye, and it developed more quickly than the open angle glaucoma.

She sighed exasperatedly, her head hung low and her shoulders slumped as she thought about all this while walking home from school. She knew that she was going blind and if not treated she would never get her eyesight back. She thought of her family and the idea of never being able to see them again overwhelmed and saddened her heart. But she just didn't have the money for the treatment. Her footfalls slowed down as she neared her place of residence. It was a dingy neighbourhood, unhealthy and poor, stuffed to one side of Shibuya, ignored and neglected, separated by a rusty iron gate from the rest of the world. The blocks of flats were worn out and dirty and the streets was cluttered with garbage and unsanitary water was collected in a puddle near the gutter. She went through the iron gates and approached her block, Block-A, flat number 8, the last one on the four storey high building.

She entered her block and climbed dejectedly to her floor, gripping the rickety wooden banister and thinking about her glaucoma and the rising headache in her temples and the feeling of nausea taking over her, sweat covered her forehead as she reached her flat, grabbed her keys from her pockets and unlocked the door, stepping inside her dark flat.

She groped for the light switch on her left and turned the light on, her flat came into view. It was quite small with one tiny bedroom, a small kitchen, a lounge and a tiny washroom. The bedroom was placed directly in front of the entrance, the lounge in between; the kitchen was placed across the lounge on the left, converging together as there was no room for a separate kitchen door. The washroom was to the right, the door closed.

She closed the door behind her as the nausea seared again and she ran to the washroom, her left hand covering her mouth, she used the right one to open the door and hurried to the toilet bowl. Vomiting severely, she collapsed on her knees in front of it and continued vomiting until her lunch and breakfast had left her stomach. Her temples pulsing like mad every time she heaved. When she was done, the nausea and the headache lifted, making her sigh in relief. She got up from the floor and brushed her teeth to rid herself of the puke taste in her mouth, having done that she made her way to her bedroom and took out a pair of black Capri pants and a shocking pink half-sleeved top and started changing her uniform. She slumped down on her bed and looked over at her alarm clock to find that it was 5 o'clock in the evening. She straightened her glasses just as her mobile phone started buzzing. She got up and picked the phone from beside her clock to see that it was Naru who was calling her, she took in a deep breath and answered the phone, "Hello?" she sighed.

"Mai, get to the office ASAP, pack for the week" the cold and indifferent voice said, but before Mai could reply Naru cut off the connection.

"Ok?" she said raising her eyebrow and sighed, putting down her phone. She started grabbing her clothes and her medicines ready for yet another case.

**Author's Note: So this is my first ever fanfic. And I was a little confused on how to start it. Hope you guys like it, R and R. Any suggestions are welcome and I'll try to upload the next chapter when I feel like it, hehehe. =D**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: 

Case 1: Unusual Cravings.

Part 1:

(A/N: Just to clear you guys up, Mai was diagnosed with glaucoma some 3 months ago.)

Mai reached SPR by around 6o'clock that evening, with an uneasy feeling creeping inside her belly, she opened the door to find a group of people sitting in the lounge, her family, she thought with a slight smile, Ayako, Bou-san, John, Lin, Yasuhara, even Masako and Naru, then she remembered her glaucoma and something in her smile tightened as she gave a cheery, "Hey guys!" as a greeting, only to have just an enthusiastic greeting thrown back at her, her smile widened. Then, before she could take another step, the cold, indifferent voice reached her ears, "Mai. Tea", not changing her expression she said, "You got it boss", and then she dropped her rucksack near the door and bustled off to the kitchen to make tea for everybody and not just her jerk of a narcissistic boss.

As she put the water to boil, the chit chat of the others reached her ears and she closed her eyes as though savoring the moment, a sad smile playing on her lips, the sadness intermingled with a twinge of guilt for not telling them about the constantly descending darkness pushing down upon her shoulders, endangering her of being eaten by it completely. She had to admit that it was tiring hiding that she was taking eye drops every morning and night, though ever since her sleeping pattern changed drastically, making her a near insomniac, she was hardly getting 4 hours to sleep in a day, this all started after their second last case that was over a month ago, she found taking eye drops on cases quite easy since she went to sleep late after them and woke up long before them, and another complication was added after their last case which was 2 weeks ago, she had started having nightmares almost every night, which ended up in her crying in agony and sadness, her nightmares consisted of one thing, her losing her beautiful SPR family to the darkness: in the dream she had stood by them laughing and goofing off when suddenly clammy hands grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the darkness with them. She sighed dejectedly as she opened her eyes and her sleeping pills came into view, she blinked and an idea crossed her mind that she could use these pills so she could have dreamless nights, though she would probably wake late into the morning and face the wrath of Naru the Narcissist later that day, but she was willing to compromise that much so that her family didn't have to face the difficulties that she was facing and on top of all these things she still had loads of homework to finish due the last case and more was coming her way during this week, and her exams were in 3 months.

A steaming whistle broke her train of thought and she blinked, realizing what had caused the whistle, she quickly lifted the kettle and while pouring the hot liquid into 8 different cups another thought coming to the top of her head, a happy one this time, that she had to take the best moments for herself during this short period of time before it was taken permanently away from her, with a mischievous smile lifting her lips up she made her way to the lounge with the tea laden tray in her hands.

She approached the lounge with a huge grin plastered on her face and served everyone their tea before taking her own place in the empty seat besides Ayako. "So Naru, what's the case?" Mai asked, taking a sip of her drink. Naru looked up from his tea cup and said, "The haunting is in Yokohama city, in a mansion on the outer district of the city, the mansion owner is Tadao Shuji, the mansion is not his by inheritance, the last owner did not have an heir and the property was sold to the lineage of Shujis over 15 years ago and has been in their possession ever since though they did not like to live in it they kept it in good condition so if the need arises they could sell it for a good amount. Recently, Mr. Shuji invited guests, possibly who were interested in the house, to stay a couple of nights in the house till the deal was sealed off, the deal was to be signed 2 weeks ago. Though they never got around to it, after just spending 2 days in the house the occupants started having paranormal experiences. Activities ranging from knocking sounds, door banging's, light shattering, blood splattering, hearing screams of agony and having warnings hurled at them. The guests were naturally terrified but the reason that they eventually ran from the place was that one of their members was found dead, the young boy of the guests, was found with his head smashed open and his brain eaten out" Naru got till this point without being interrupted but as soon as they heard that there were gasps all over the place and some 'What?'s and 'No way's. Naru stared at their shocked expressions before continuing in his indifferent tone, "This death occurred on the third day of the guests stay, so the spirit acted quite quickly, but another two deaths occurred in the same manner before the client came to us two days ago, both deaths were from the staff, when asked whether the victims had experienced any common activity between them the client said that the victims had complained about hearing some warnings for sometime before they disappeared only to be found some time later, dead. When asked what kind of warnings the victims were hearing, the client said that he did not know. As you can see that we have a potentially dangerous spirit in our hands I want no one and I mean no one to move alone in the house while we stay there, though on the clients offer to make us as comfortable as possible he has allotted us each different rooms in close proximity to the base and to the other rooms as well. While there I suggest that we move in 2 groups while setting up the equipments, allotment will be made then and there, the minimum that I can allow is two people one who has experience in warding off the evil spirits. We will set out right now, since the client wants us to take action as soon as possible." He stood up as the others nodded and left their seats to haul their luggage and equipment to the two cars waiting in the car park.

Mai was sitting in Bou-san's car near the window, Yasuhara in the middle and John on his other side, Ayako had taken the passenger seat in the front. Masako was riding with Lin and Naru as usual, Mai wondered if it had something to do with her confession and he was avoiding her for that reason, a hollow pain pulled at her heart at the thought, not wanting to worry anybody she pushed the thought out of her head as the car began moving, "Hey, Mai!" Yasuharas' voice made Mai turn her head over to the grinning boy, there was a mischievous air around him, "What is it Yasuhara?" Mai asked cheerfully, smiling at him. "I was wondering if you could assist me in something?" he whispered in her ear, she eyed him curiously, "What is it?", "Well, you see…I want to date someone" he looked pointedly at Bou-san, Mai looked at him in surprise, "You want to go out with Bou-san?" Mai had not bothered to lower her voice, the car screeched to a sudden halt making everyone lean forward for a while and then," WHAT?" Bou-san looked back at them, his mouth opened in shock, and then a thump resounded in the air as Ayako hit him on the back of his head, "YOU JERK! DON'T STOP THE CAR JUST LIKE THAT, DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY NOSE IF I HIT IT ON THE DASHBOARD?" Ayako yelled, while pulling Monk's cheeks painfully in the process, he was trying to pull her hands off of him when John said, shyly, "Take it easy, guys; we have to get to Yokohama city on time". Nobody paid him much attention. "Get your hands off me you old woman!" Monk yelled at her, the words he used were NOT helping the matter any further, when a resounding bell filled the air, coming from Monk's phone, he finally pulled Ayako off of him, snarling at her and answered his phone, putting it on speaker when he saw Naru calling him, "If you guys have done fooling around, we have a client to meet in Yokohama city, save your triads for after we get there" Narus' cold voice flowed from the cell. "Alright Naru, if you say so" Mai replied to his voice before the connection was cut. So, fuming and seething Monk started off down the road again.

They reached their affirmed destination in one and a half hours. (A/N: I don't know how long it takes to reach Yokohama city from Tokyo, so this is just a guess =D).

They got out of the car in front of the mansion, it was quite grandeur, it was in really good condition even though it was set outside of the city, it's location was quite isolated, woods surrounded the house and there wasn't any other house on the secluded road. The road had curved into the iron gates of the mansion that lead to the gardens surrounding it. It was quite huge, with maybe over 20 rooms over all.

"Wow, what an awesome house!" Mai commented happily eyeing the building in awe. "Sure is!" Yasuhara replied just as happily. Tadai Shuji was waiting for them at the entrance of the house, Naru got out of the van and climbed the three steps that led to the entrance, "Mai, Yasuhara help the others unload the equipment" he ordered coldly. They both turned to the van to see Lin, Monk and John unloading the van while the miko stood out of their way, eyeing the mansion somewhat gloomily. Mai noticed that Masako was also not helping with the equipment but making her way over to where Naru was talking with Mr. Shuji. When Masako reached him, she bowed in greeting to the client who bowed back, 'Why isn't Naru ordering her to get the equipment?' Mai thought angrily, but made her way to the van none the less and started unloading the few boxes that were left behind. She picked up a heavy box and made her way over to the entrance where Naru stood next to the client and Masako, waiting for them to hurry up. The others followed in her wake all carrying a box in their hands except for Ayako, naturally.

"Good evening, Shuji-san" Mai greeted with a smile on her face and bowing as much as possible with the heavy box in her hands, Mr. Shuji bowed back. He looked over at Naru, who nodded and led them inside the house.

They entered a huge hall, devoid of any furniture which made the space in it all the more domineering. A staircase, on their right, led to the upper storey. Doors stood along the left length of the hall, leading into the kitchen and dining room. The floor was made of rickety wood and was polished clean so that it gleamed in the light over-head. Mr. Shuji led them down the hall along the left length, he passed the 2 doors and led them down a corridor which turned left, and a door stood to the right, under the staircase which probably led down to the basement, thought Mai. She looked down the left corridor and saw even more doors along both the lengths. Mr. Shuji led them into the room that was supposed to be their base, a large coffee table was placed in the middle, with 8 chairs placed around it, and several desks were placed alongside the left length of the wall that would be occupied by the monitors and other equipment. A large window looked out towards the backside of the mansion; Mai saw a grape garden when she looked outside after placing the box she carried on the floor, her eyes widened in delight as she saw the fruit dangling from the vines. Mr. Shujis' voice made her turn to the middle-aged man, "This house was built over 50 years ago by Atsushi Fumio for his only child and son, Masaru Fumio (A/N: I'm doing this the English way and not the Jap. way since I'm used to doing it like this, hehehe). Masaru was born during the time that the construction was complete, so we can presume that Atsushi had begun the establishment long before the birth. Masaru Fumio was sent aboard to study for some time he returned to find that his parents were dead and the house was his to take over when he was 20 years old. We are not sure what happened during this time only that he died 30 years later at the age of 50. It is rumored however that he used this house to do some research on psychic abilities; some even go as far as to say that he was obsessed with it. That is the only information that I know of" he informed us, and bowed his head before continuing, "I hope that this room reaches your needs, your rooms of residence are placed along this hallway, eight in total number, if you need anything the staff are here to guide and help you, if you want to contact me then I can give you my phone number". "Thank you, Mr. Shuji if you could leave your contact with my assistant Lin Koujo" Naru said before nodding his head once in Lin's direction, Lin moved forward to take the contact information. After giving them the information, he bowed to everyone and left.

"Start setting up the equipment, Takigawa, Miss Matsuzaki, Mai and John will set out the cameras in the upper rooms, note the temperatures as well, myself, Lin, Yasuhara and Miss Hara will cover the ground floor. Start moving out" Naru turned to his team immediately after Mr. Shuji left. They nodded in agreement and started collecting the respective equipments.

Mai set out from base with Monk, Ayako and John, a camera and a thermometer in her hands. Mai frowned as she moved down the corridor; she had a really bad feeling about this house, it was settling in her stomach and then spreading out again, reaching her heart and making it pump with fear. Other then that she could not shake the feeling that she was being watched by someone or something, it made her uncomfortable, it felt as though she were being hunted, sweat trickled down her neck and she did not notice Monk and Ayako arguing again and John trying to calm them down, unsuccessfully. They reached the bottom of the stairs and Mai stopped her eyes widening in fear and her muscles tensed tightly, while the others continued, she felt a chilly wind blowing past her, it twirled around her body as though assessing her, starting from the tips of her toes till the last strand of her hair, it was as though her hair could feel the dread that was spreading through out her body making the tips of her fingers and toes tingle uncomfortably. She was immobilized, the wind did not pass away as normal wind would have done and if she looked around the windows in the hall she would find them all closed and there was no way that a wind could pass through, let alone behave in the way that it did, twirling around her body.

A sharp voice brought her out of her immobilization and the wind died out, she looked at the top of the stairs to see who had called her name, Ayako was standing with the other three looking down at her uncertainly, her muscles relaxed as Ayako called out, "Hey Mai, you alright?" there was concern in her voice and Mai could only manage a small nod before she started climbing the stairs cautiously, her legs had been turned to jelly. She reached the top of the stairs with a small smile on her face. They looked at her doubtfully and Mai said, "Come on guys we have to set up the equipment" her voice had trembled, they noticed and Monk asked, "Mai, are you sure you're alright? What happened back there?"

Mai looked at Bou-san, uncertain on what to tell the man and the creeping feeling of nausea was not helping matters, she could use this as an excuse to her vomiting, "Oh! I just had a bad feeling that's all, but it's making me nauseous" she said nervously. Ayako looked at her clammy and pale complexion and said, "I'll drop you off to your room, shall I? You can join us later when you feel better; let us handle the upper rooms, if Naru says anything we'll tell him what happened". Mai looked grateful and relieved as she heard these words, and to cap it all off she was now feeling a little dizzy as well.

Mai and Ayako set off to the corridor that they had just left, they turned in to base to grab Mai's rucksack and led the way to one of the rooms that was two doors down from the base's left. They opened the door and looked in surprise at the large bedroom, with a queen-sized bed placed facing the window on their left. "Wow, talk about size" Ayako muttered indifferently, then she looked down at Mai who seemed to be restraining herself from something, "Well Mai, I'll leave your bag here," she dropped her rucksack besides the door, she sure was taking her time, "You don't need anything else you do?" Ayako asked peering down at her concernedly Mai shook her head vigorously, what she really needed was to Ayako to leave so she could use the washroom at the end of the room. Ayako turned to leave and closed the door behind her, Mai sighed in relief slumping down to the floor against the door. She was now panting and sweating as though she had just run a mile, but the nausea hadn't seared yet so she was safe for a little while, but her head was aching really badly and the room was spinning dangerously. She got up on her jelly legs and made her way to the washroom with difficulty using the wall for support. She opened the door just as her nausea seared again and she ran towards the toilet bowl, collapsing with dizziness at the foot of it, she pushed herself so that she was facing the toilet and vomited spectacularly, she had thought that she had vomited all of her food back at the apartment but she was wrong as she vomited again, her temples contracting painfully each time. She vomited one final time when the nausea and headache lifted and she slumped back in relief, straightening her glasses on her sweaty nose.

She got up slowly, thinking about helping Bou-san and the others with the equipment, she rinsed her mouth at the sink and was about to leave the washroom when blackness engulfed her and she fell back on the floor.

**Mai's Dream:**

She was making her way towards the door of the mansion; it was the mansion they were at right now, though it was day time now, the sky was clear except a few clouds or two. She knew that she was experiencing someone else's memory because someone at the entrance called out at seeing her, "Mr. Minori, how glad I am that you came to visit me after I sent out the invitation", a man in may be his early thirties greeted her, she walked forwards, bowing in greeting and said "The pleasure is all mine Mr. Fumio, someone as humble as me could not possibly deny the opportunity to see a great man as you, I presume that you are doing well?" the man whose memories Mai was seeing answered in reply, he had a cheerful voice, she would hazard a guess that may be he was in his late twenties. "I am doing just fine, my man, thank you for your concern, if you would please…" Mr. Fumio's trailed off as he gestured to the entrance, inviting the man in.

Mr. Minori followed the man in to the large hall, it was not empty now, and extravagant furniture was placed in the hall. Mr. Minori took the surroundings in, pleasurably and appreciatively. "Do make your self at home, my fellow man" Mr. Fumio said, Mr. Minori took his place on a couch and Mr. Fumio took the seat opposite him.

"I see that your education aboard has effected your taste as well, the furniture is truly delightful" he said, Mai realized that the man in front of her was the son of Atsushi Fumio, Masaru Fumio, so his parents were already dead since he was in Japan right now. "Why thank you, I do like to pamper my self and my home," he replied, cheerfully before laughing happily, Mr. Minori chuckled appreciatively. "I presume that you have not invited me to see your luxurious home?" Mai felt the man raise his eyebrow questioningly. "Of course not, I have invited you to share our knowledge of what people call psychic powers; I have been doing research on this specific subject ever since I found out that I was a psychic, PK-ST, of course (A/N: I'm not sure if they had defined these terms during this time, but I'll make it easy on my self and go on with it. =D). I have done all research on my powers and acted them out practically, but I'm curious about the other two forms of, generally referred to as PK-MT and PK-LT, since I'm not one of these I'm naturally curious as to what these two hold. I heard that you were a PK-LT, is that correct?" he looked at Mai with a raised eyebrow. Mai felt herself nod and say, "That is correct, though I have never researched my powers, so I'm not so sure that I could help you in this research of yours" Mr. Fumio laughed heartedly and said, "I'm sure that you will, would you like to wash your self before dinner is brought on?" "That would be appropriate, I think" nodded Mr. Minori (A/N: lol, I can't seem to remember his name, so I have to go back a few scrolls to see it again =D) "I'll have my servant escort you" Mr. Fumio replied humbly, just then a servant arrived bowing his head to both of the men sitting at the table. Mai felt herself, or rather felt Mr. Minori get up and follow the servant to the room that Mai currently resided in.

Mr. Minori thanked the servant and closed the door behind him, making his way over to the washroom.

He busied himself with washing his face and hands and looked in the mirror, Mai found a young black haired man staring back at her, then he dived into the sink again, as he heard the washroom door open. He looked up in surprise to see Mr. Fumio standing there with a twisted smile on his face, he jerked away from the sink in surprise as the door opened fully and he saw a axe in his hand, which was already bloodied, "Mr. Fumio, wh- what are you doing?" Mai felt dread and terror rise in the man's chest as Mr. Fumio entered the washroom; Mr. Minori backed up against the bath tub and stopped when his knees collided with it. Now Mr. Fumio was now cackling like mad, raising his axe in both his hands over his head and said in a quite a different tone of voice from before, it was evil, full of hunger, full o-of lust?, Mr. Minori fell into the bathtub as Mr. Fumio said (Mai thought alarmingly) "I'm taking your powers, my young man, I'll crack your head open and eat your brain out, so that I'll become master of your powers" he cackled madly and brought the axe down upon Mai who screamed in the voice of Mr. Minori.

**A/N: I'll end this chapter here, mainly because I can't wait to publish it, hehehe. So how was it? Rate and Review, please. Cheers. =D And the reason that the axe was already bloodied is that he used it to kill the servant that escorted Mr. Minori to the bedroom.**

**Anyways chapter three will be up, when I feel like writing and completing it. Don't worry, I have all my mind on writing it, though maybe not on the weekend, since I'm going on an outing with my family. I hope I enjoy this trip. =D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Case 1: Unusual Cravings.**

**Part 2:**

Fumio Mansion:

Day 1 (9:15 pm):

Naru was sitting at base, reading his black book, as usual. Everybody had got back from their jobs, and was informed by Ayako that Mai was not feeling well so she skipped on her job and was currently resting in her room, he had ignored this information, but now he was craving for his tea and it had been a while and Mai still had not shown up.

Getting up from his chair he exited the base, intending to check on Mai.

He walked down the corridor to where her room was two doors down from the base. He stopped in front of the door and proceeded to open it, when a horrifying scream rented the air apart- it was Mai.

Naru quickly walked into the room and saw that the scream was issuing from the washroom; he walked quickly and opened the door leading into it.

He saw Mai laying on the floor, curled into a ball, her long hair strewn behind her, clutching her head as though someone was beating her head open with an axe. He ran to her, kneeling beside her he grabbed her shoulders and shook them, "Mai! Wake up, it's alright, you're safe Mai!" he said in his stoic voice, though his head was teeming in concern for her (A/N: Naru's a really good friend, you know, people should see that in him, =D). Mai's eyes shot open and she stopped screaming, though she was still trembling, "N-Naru?" she said shakily, "It's me Mai, are you alright?" he sighed in relief. She lifted her head to look at him; he could see tears brimming in her eyes. She sat up slowly, Naru giving her a hand to help her. Then her eyes widened in shock and fear, "Mai?" Naru asked noting the change in her eyes.

Mai could feel the same wind that she felt at the bottom of the stairs, but only now it was coming to assess Naru and not her, she could almost see the wind blowing from the ceiling.

"N-Naru, the wind- the wind, its coming for you Naru, like it did me, he wants you" Mai said in a trembling voice. Naru didn't understand what she was trying to say, "What are you talking about, Mai?" he asked her in his calm voice. "Can't yo-you feel the wind Naru? It'll twirl around your body; it's like its summing you up, calculating your potential" Mai said, tears spilling on her cheeks, "The wind?" Naru asked her, then he could feel it, a wind around his body but it did not pass him, like he expected it to, but twirled around his body in the manner that Mai described, 'what was this?' he wondered.

The wind started from his toes and lingered on his last hair strand, it made his finger tips and toes shake uncomfortably. It felt just like Mai had said, as though the wind was summing you up, calculating your potential.

The door to the washroom banged open and the others piled in, "Mai! Are you alright?" Bou-san yelled over the others words of concern. The wind that had been blowing around Naru ended suddenly and he put his hand up to stop them from trampling Mai. They stopped in their tracks, looking surprised.

"Mai, can you stand up?" Naru asked her gently, she had been staring at him all along, trying to see his reaction to the wind but nodded to his question and started to stand up, slowly, Narus' hand supporting her up. She looked at the others, standing worried in the entrance, she smiled weakly at them and said, "I'm alright guys, I just had a dream." "Miss Matsuzaki make Mai a cup of tea, the others return to base, I'll bring Mai behind" Naru ordered. The others filed out, still worried.

Naru led Mai in to her bedroom when the others had left, gripping her hand firmly. She was shaking like mad and she could not get the image of Mr. Fumio's facial expression out of her mind as he had descended upon Mai- no Mr. Minori, he had descended upon him and not her, but it sure felt real as though it was her head he had axed open.

And his evil, lustful voice kept ringing in her ears as though he were just behind her. Naru led her in to the base and sat her on the coffee table besides Yasuhara and took the seat opposite her as Ayako brought a steaming cup of tea for Mai. She handed her the cup and Naru waited patiently for her to calm her broken nerves.

Mai drank the hot drink, grateful for the warmth it brought her and how it started healing her nerves bringing the feeling back into her hands and legs. She looked up to see Naru, his arms crossed across his chest, looking at her with his calm eyes. She put the empty cup down on the saucer and nodded once towards him.

He sighed before saying, "What did you see, Mai?" he waited for her response. "I saw Mr. Fumio, Masaru Fumio to be exact, I saw him through the eyes of one Mr. Minori. Mr. Fumio had invited him to his home for research business. He wanted to talk about psychic powers. He said that he was a psychic, PK-ST and had done research on his powers to the complete end, but he said that he was curious about the other two forms of psychic abilities, PK-MT and PK-LT. He thought that Mr. Minori could help him in his research and asked whether he, Mr. Minori was a PK-LT as it was rumored to be. Mr. Minori confirmed the belief but said that he had not researched his powers and doubted that he could help him much in the matter; Mr. Fumio laughed and said that he would. Then Mr. Minori was escorted to my room by a servant to wash up for lunch, he was washing his face when Mr. Fumio entered with an axe in his hands, Mr. Minori was shocked and asked him what he was doing, Mr. Fumio said that he would eat his brain out and take his powers for himself and then brought the axe upon his head," Mai finished, her voice had started to shake again. "So, Masaru Fumio is the one who's haunting this place, talk about a psycho trying to eat their brains to get at their powers," Bou-san wondered aloud, staring at Mai.

"The wind," Naru stated, ignoring Monk, Mai looked up from her empty tea cup into his eyes once more and nodded, "I felt the wind right before I was feeling nauseous and had to take a break, it must have been Mr. Fumio assessing our powers since we're both psychics, what about you Masako did you feel any kind of wind and Lin?" she asked the medium on her left, she nodded once and looked at Lin who also nodded.

"Then all four of us are in danger from the ghost, Naru! And that means that the people who died in the staff were psychic as well, right?" Mai looked alarmingly at Naru, who had closed his eyes and was in deep thought.

"Mai, get to bed, we'll see to this in the morning," Naru said, looking at her. "But-"Mai began but was cut off by Ayako who said, "Naru's right, Mai you should get to bed, you look exhausted".

No, she could not just leave and go to bed while Naru was in danger of being killed, the terror that had settled in her stomach roared to full life at the thought of Naru being killed by this evil ghost. But the nausea that had left her was now beginning to creep in again, she was tired of vomiting all over the place, and her head hurt as well. There was nothing but to give in to his demand.

**11:30 pm:**

Mai lay awake in bed, she had taken all her medicine over an hour ago, but she had failed to fall asleep, there was dread in the pit of stomach and she had taken her sleeping pills well over 15 minutes ago and she was waiting for sleep to kick in.

Her eyelids were getting heavy, as she thought about Naru and whether he was well and alive, 'of course he is Mai, and this is Naru we're talking about, right?' she thought sleepily. Finally her eyelids drooped for one final time and she fell into the blissful realms of dreamless sleep.

**Fumio Mansion:**

**Day 2:**

**11:00 am:**

Mai groaned awake, sunlight streaming in through her window. She rubbed her eyes free of the cataracts and shoved her glasses on as she sat in bed, stretching her arms and legs. She was having one of the symptoms of glaucoma again, her line of vision was less then average, she could only see her toes of her feet and the rest was in darkness. She blinked several times trying to get her normal vision back, shaking her head in the process but that only made her dizzy.

Slowly her vision returned and she noticed charms placed all over the room for her protection, she sighed seeing them then headed off to the washroom to take a cold shower.

She retuned 30 minutes later, only to glance at the clock and panic, it was 11:30 in the morning and nobody had woken her up, she thought alarmingly, 'Naru won't like this' she thought gloomily.

She entered base after her daily dose of medicine. She noticed that Naru, Masako and John weren't there; she looked questioningly at Yasuhara who flashed a grin and said, "Shibuya-san is resting in his room, he told us not to wake you up when he left for his room and Hara-san is checking the house for any feel of spirits and John-san is with her." Mai sighed in relief and made her way over to where Yasuhara sat who offered her a bowl of ramen noodles. She took it gratefully and started eating her way through it.

The empty bowl of ramen noodles lay before her when a scream rented the air apart and Lin yelled, "Masako!" Lin was looking into one of the monitors and everybody turned their attention to the monitor which showed the last room on the upper storey, and sure enough Masako lay on the ground unconscious with John trying to ward off the spirit with his holy water.

Everybody ran to help them, only Mai was rooted to her spot, then the whole house started shaking as though it were experiencing a very violent earthquake and only one thought crossed Mai's mind during that time-'Naru doesn't know, he could be targeted by the ghost now', not concerned that the ghost could target her as well she ran from the base and down the end of the corridor, wrenching the door to Naru's room she yelled his name, "Naru!" then she stopped before the threshold taking in the sight before her, surprised.

Naru was perched behind an arm chair his black note book in his hands, he looked a little surprised at her sudden appearance, "Mai?"

Mai didn't answer, Naru's room was not experiencing the same phenomena that was happening to the whole house and that surprised her then she casted her eyes around the room and saw charms all over it, the same kind that had been in her room, which would explain why his room was not shaking and trembling.

"Mai?" Naru called once again, he had stood up from his chair.

Mai was about to answer when her eyes widened in fear and terror, the wind that she had experienced yesterday was blowing again, but there was something different about it, there was a force guiding it and it was coming from behind. It hit her which made her gasp and made her arch her back, she could feel the same force in her body now, evil, dominating, powerful, it coursed through her body cutting her off from her own body. Now she was being pressed upon by it in her mind, she was losing the vision of Naru to darkness, the one thing she had began to fear after she was diagnosed with glaucoma, but someone was pushing her back as she tried to fight it but it was too strong and she was pushed into the darkness.

She realized that she was in her spirit form trapped by the darkness that she had become to recognize as the force that had taken over her body. Now she was just a helpless spirit shunted to the back of the brain not aware of the position that her body was in.

'SO MUCH, POWER!' a voice cackled in her mind, Mai's eyes widened in shock as she recognized it as the voice of Masaru Fumio. He had taken possession over her body, she had allowed him to take her body and now Naru was in danger because of her, 'No!' she had to fight it but she was so scared, so very scared, she had lost to the darkness the same darkness that she had been fighting ever since that dreaded day 3 months ago. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't do it, she started crying, slumping down on the darkness that also acted as her floor and everything else.

She would be the cause of Naru's death; she knew that he would never use his PK against her, even though she was possessed by a spirit that was out to kill him. And the darkness descended more upon her, feeding off of her fear, draining her of the remaining energy that she could have used as her defense.

Naru watched concerned as Mai's eyes widened in fear as she stood beyond the threshold, he called out to her again, "Mai?" but she didn't respond, now her shoulders had slumped as though in exhaustion and he could not see her eyes as they were downcast.

Then her hair started blowing around her as though a strong wind was playing and a cackling sound filled the air, Naru stiffened, he could not believe that Mai was even capable of making such a sound, it was evil, it was lustful and hungry. No, this was not Mai; she had become possessed by the spirit that was inhabited here, Naru was dead sure about the fact.

"SO MUCH, POWER!" the now possessed Mai said, Naru could now feel the psychic energy emanating from her, Mai didn't possess this kind of power, it was stronger than even his or Lin's powers. But the spirit is possessing _her_ body, so it is indeed using _her _power Naru thought in alarm.

The charms that had been placed all over his room to protect him were now burning; the spirit was using Mai's powers to burn them so it could access the room in which he, Naru was trapped. She was leering at him lustfully and Mai's statement flashed through his brain, 'He wants you' she had said. But didn't he get what he wanted by possessing Mai? She held much more power then he did so why was the ghost still targeting him, why? Unless it wanted both of them? That was possible, very possible. He had to get Mai to oppose this force if she was pulled into the right direction then she may be able to do it, but how? Using his PK was out of the question since it would kill Mai even though the spirit would not last, he didn't want her dead.

He broke from his train of thought as the room around him had started to shake and tremble as the charms burned to the floor, Mai was still standing in the doorway waiting for them to burn completely, leering at him. He just could not stand to see her like this, her beautiful face was full of hunger, and lust for his powers, the usual happy, cheery expressions that he loved so much were gone- wait- he _loved _her expressions? Something clunked in his heart but he couldn't place his finger on what it was. He shook his head he had to concentrate on this current situation, he will worry about what his heart says later on, if he does survive Mai that is.

Next second he knew, Mai had flown, literally flown to him, she stopped just short of his face, leering at him evilly and then cackling. He stood his ground, he would not surrender to this spirit, and he had to keep it distracted.

The ghost looked at the girl's hands he was possessing, she had so much power, he had underestimated her by a very long shot but now that he was in control of her body he could use this girls' unrealized potential. This is the power that he wanted, that he needed but getting this power was not enough and he had to get more, the boy in front of him possessed the kind of power that he needed to get stronger and he would make this girl, his lover eat his brain out, oh, the irony of it was just too much to handle and he cackled again.

He could feel the girl, dimly in the back of his mind, holding her, she was scared, dead scared, and she was too weak due to that. He would enjoy torturing her, she already knew that she had endangered the man she loved by letting him take over his body. He cackled again.

"Let Mai go," Naru said, his was glaring at the possessed Mai, he missed the happy and mischievous gleam in her big, wonderful eyes, it was replaced by that of hatred, hunger and madness.

"Now, why should I do that? The idea that her body would kill the one she loves scares her beyond her wits and I just enjoy her fear and pain that's what I'm feeding off, she has too many," possessed Mai stated matter-of-factly and Naru narrowed his eyes at his words. Seeing the look on his face he cackled again and said, "Oh, yes I can hear her crying her eyes out, I can _taste_ her despair and pain. Funny don't you think that she still cares about you, still loves you even when you threw her confession in her face?"

Pain shot through Narus' heart like an electric charge at his words; yes he had thrown her love believing that she was in love with Gene, what woman would love him after seeing his cold and indifferent manner? No it was Gene who was always loved by everyone because of his kind and caring nature and the girls fawned over him.

"Yes, it was you, she loved you and still does, can you not see the enjoyment that this situation is bringing me?" he cackled again.

Mai was crying her mind out she could hear every word that the ghost was saying to Naru through her mouth, the mouth that had confessed love for him was now in the possession of someone who would kill the thing she loved the most.

She didn't know what to do, there was little relief for her, the fact that the ghost was talking to Naru told her that he was still alive and she had to act in this time and she desperately cast her eyes around the darkness to find a non-existent solution to all her problems.

Naru was strong mentally, he would know what to do in situations like these but she didn't have a brain like Narus' she didn't know what to do in situations like these.

'I despise the feeling of love' she heard the ghost telling this to Naru.

Something slid into place, this ghost was feeding off of her emotions, she was scared and that was the source of his energy, she had to replace this emotion with that of something that he could not bear that would destroy him and the answer was in front of her, love. She had to feel what she feels whenever she looks at Naru, Ayako, Bou-san, John, Yasuhara, Lin, and even Masako her family.

And she saw how Naru draws his energy, her energy was her love, she had to draw it out and expel it outwards and drive the force out.

She closed her eyes again, the image of her family, laughing and enjoying themselves together crossed her eyes and immediately the emotion of fear was replaced by that of love, she really loved this feeling- so warm, so happy, and so beautiful that it could crumble the ground underneath your feet in an instant.

Then Narus' face came into view and her chest swelled at the image of the time he had smiled at her.

She could feel the emotion flowing through her and entering her brain she could feel the energy that she was collecting, it was massive, she thought it would never end and it just kept on coming.

She opened her eyes and looked at her hands; they were glowing from her energy, now all she had to do was focus this energy on one point, her hands seemed like a good place of focus.

So she drove all the energy flowing through her to her hands, she could feel it gathering there, it was very warm, then she could see a ball of light appearing there between her hands which were cupped as though holding water, as she drove more and more energy to her hands the ball of light grew bigger and in a matter of moments it had become the size of a football. She drove more to her hand, encouraged by her result, the ball grew and grew and what puzzled Mai the most was the fact that it didn't weigh a thing even as it grew bigger.

When she thought that she had reached the right amount of energy she stopped focusing on driving the energy to her hands but the ball still grew and at an alarmingly fast rate by the time she realized that something was wrong it had already grown to twice the size of her body.

Panicking she threw the ball of energy around the darkness surrounding her, 'No!' she heard Masaru yell as the darkness was being pushed away and she could see a bright light in front of her, "That's weird Narus' room wasn't this bright before," she said aloud as the light had a blinding quality to it.

She blinked several times in the light adjusting them after the darkness; there was a black figure standing over her, she blinked more as the image of Naru came before her eyes, she sat up quickly realizing who was there, "Naru!" she yelled relieved.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, to which she nodded enthusiastically.

She looked around and saw that the air was thick with dust because the ceiling had fallen on them.

"Naru, the spirit-"she asked suddenly remembering the darkness around her.

"He's gone, you destroyed him with that energy ball," he replied stoically. His eyes were intense as they looked at her.

"Naru! Mai!," Lins' shout came from behind them, Mai looked over her shoulder to see him and the others standing in what used to be the entrance to Narus' room.

Naru looked up as Lin and the others rushed in and gathered around Mai, only Lin headed his way, he could see anger on his face, he knew why that'd be though. Lin must think that Naru must have used his PK.

"Noll, you shouldn't have done that!" Lin said sternly.

"I didn't do it, it was Mai," Naru replied coldly.

"Mai?" everybody said surprised, looking at Mai who nodded slightly.

"Yes, it was Mai, and if you guys have done talking we have some packing up to do," Naru continued coldly.

They piled out uncertainly.

"Lin, call Mr. Shuji and tell him what has happened," Naru said to the man, who nodded and exited.

Naru looked around at the wreckage, thinking.

He had expected to get badly hurt by the energy ball that Mai had used but he was unscathed, he figured that Mai had used her powerful emotions to draw energy and expel the spirit.

With a sigh he exited the room.

**A/N: Finally done with this chapter, I'm glad I have it off my hands and now I can continue on to Chapter 4. R and R. =D **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

**Losing Control**

**Part 1:**

**Day 1:**

**Saturday:**

**03:00 pm:**

Mai sat at her table with her history books in front of her. She had just gotten home from the case. A call in the middle of the journey made her panic as the exams that were to be held in the next three months were rescheduled to the end of this month because the school was going through some financial problems and it had to be closed so the final year students were giving their exams this month so as not to repeat their final years, so she just had three weeks to study.

She wasn't making much progress as she kept on reading one line over and over again, it was frustrating.

She had to do this, her mother wouldn't want her to fail in her exams, and after all the trouble she went through after her parent's death she still had decided to continue with her education because her mother would always tell her that education was too good to give up just like that.

She had to do this for her, she shook her head and with reinforced determination she set her eyes back on her book.

"Mai," Mai gasped standing up and whisking around, casting her wide, terrified eyes around the apartment there was no one there 'Of course, Mai you live alone and there is no possibility that you would ever hear that voice again' Mai shook her head and went back to her book.

Her ears were still tingling with the voice of her mother calling her out; if Mai was truly certain of one thing then it was the fact that she'd never hear the voice of her mother ever again. She casted her head down on the book and shaking her head again she went to back to studying.

**8:00 pm: **

Mai had made good progress on history and was just about to get up when her phone rang.

It was Naru, "Hello?"

"Mai, you left your necklace back at the office?" Narus' cold voice clearly told her that he was annoyed with her carelessness.

"My necklace?" she asked, confused casting her eyes to where the locket that belonged to her mother usually rested, it wasn't there.

"Yes, your necklace. Do you want me to come give it to you or…throw it away?" he asked, teasing her again.

"No, Naru! Don't throw it away. I can come get it?" she suggested.

"Don't bother, I've locked up the office, give me your address and I'll come give it you" he said stoically.

After giving him her address he hung up after saying that he'd be there in ten minutes.

Mai sighed sitting back at her table.

Naru stood outside the gate that led to where Mai lived. He didn't like the look of this place, it was unhealthy to say the least, and he couldn't bear the thought of Mai living here and all alone as well. He also didn't like the idea of what kind of company this place offered, drunken men harassing young women, thieves he shook these horrifying thoughts out of his mind and entered through the gate.

He reached the block, he could see a man sleeping near the steps, there was an unpleasant sort of smell coming from him, and it looked as though his wife had kicked him out for the night. Ignoring the drunken man Naru entered the building.

He climbed the stairs surly at last reaching the last 5 steps of the stairs that ked to Mai's floor and then stopped at the sight before him, eyes widening in shock.

Mai stood on the landing of her floor a four year old girl in her arms and standing talking to a man who was barely older then him. He heard what Mai was saying to the man, "- I love you" and the man replied, "I love you too." The child in Mai's arms giggled at the words and then let out a wail, "Daddy, don't go!"

"Don't worry; daddy will be back, won't he?" Mai said to the child.

Pain coursed through Narus' heart as he never experienced before at the exchange between the 'family', a tumble of emotions were coursing through his body, pain, jealousy, hurt, betrayal as Mai's confession came banging into his head, "I love you, Naru!" she had said, was that a lie, was it all a game, why did it matter to him so much, he wasn't in love with Mai, was he? Of course he wasn't then why should he feel the emotions that coursed through him right at this moment.

Did it really matter to him that Mai love him and only him? He wouldn't care that Mai love another man, right? Then what was with these emotions? Did he really care? If not why was he suddenly feeling hatred and jealousy towards the man to whom Mai had just said 'I love you'?

Mai's voice brought his attention to the people standing before him, "Naru! You're here!" Mai's cheerful voice greeted him.

"I'll get going then, shall I Mai?" the man said nervously peering at Naru. Mai nodded to him and he started descending the stairs, shivering as he passed the profile of Naru.

"Come on in, Naru" she smiled warmly at him.

Naru moved his seemingly frozen feet towards the women who had confessed love for him but now stood with a child in her arms, Naru tried not to think 'her child' as he approached the traitor. (A/N: hehehe, stupid Naru, but I love doing this to him ;) )

He entered her apartment, it was small but she had tried her best to make it as homely as possible, he could see that, he saw several toys dumped in the lounge and with great agony moved to sit at her table while trying to figure his thoughts and emotions out.

"I'll go make some tea, shall I?" Mai said joyfully, putting the child on the floor which only resulted in her wailing loudly and following Mai in to the kitchen. Several minutes later Mai set a steaming cup of tea in front of him and took the seat opposite him, the child climbing in her lap, Mai put an arm around the child and tickled it, the girl screamed in laughter while Mai laughed with her.

Naru watched with a hardened expression on his face before averting his eyes from the torturous scene before him. He took a sip from his cup and was surprised to see that his hands shook.

He turned his eyes back to the scene. Mai noticed how he looked at the child; his eyes were hard, real hard even in the case of Naru. He didn't actually think that this was her child and that Katsuya was her husband or lover? He could have heard the exchange between them a little late, she had conveyed to Katsuya what Aoi had whispered in her ear. 'No Mai, Naru is an intelligent guy, he wouldn't think something like that, but just so in case I should get it off his shoulders if he is thinking that'

"Oh yeah! I didn't introduce you to Aoi did I Naru? This is Aoi, she's the daughter of the man you just saw, Katsuya. His wife is really ill so when handling Aoi becomes too difficult he drops her here and every time the routine is the same Aoi tells me to tell him that she loves him, something she hasn't been able to do since she's shy at admitting her feelings to anyone even her own father," Mai told him happily, smiling warmly at the girl in her arms.

Intense guilt crossed hi heart and he shifted uncomfortably but something in his heart made it swell with happiness at the news as well. How odd. How could he think of such a thing? He mentally shook his head as the guilt and unusual happiness still coursed through him.

Naru looked at Mai playing with the child, his heart throbbed with that same emotion, why is it becoming so often? He didn't know, for the first time in Oliver Davis' life he was completely clueless.

His stomach fluttered feebly as Mai looked up at him and smiled her wonderful smile; he could watch her all day like this-no, wait- did he just think that? What's wrong with him? He has never felt butterflies in his stomach before either so why now all of a sudden?

As he was trying to figure whether he was sick or not (A/N: Of course he's sick, love sick that it, hehehehe), Mai spoke up, "Hey Naru, are you alright? You look sick," there was concern in her voice, his heart swelled again as he heard that concern.

"Yes Mai, I'm alright," he answered her coldly.

There was a knock on the door just then, Mai stood up quickly to answer it while the girl ran behind her screaming for her father.

"Oh, Katsuya-san you're back already," Mai said pleasantly surprised as the man picked up his wailing daughter whose wailing stopped instantly.

"I'll be taking my leave, Mai, and I'll try not to bring Aoi over to you since you have exams coming on," he said apologetically.

"Oh no, that's alright Katsuya-san I'm sure I can fit Aoi somewhere in my time," she replied happily, smiling her warm smile at him.

"Thanks Mai and take care. Good- bye" he said.

"Good-bye Katsuya- san" Mai responded in greeting. Mai closed the door behind him.

Naru was sorely missing the empty seat in front of him and it made him agitated not to have Mai before his eyes and refrained himself with difficulty from looking around at her and make sure that she was alright. He was confused, he had always been protective of his friends especially Mai but not at this range that he wanted her in front him _every time_.

He sighed silently when she appeared before him again and finished her tea.

He looked down at his own cup in surprise it was nearly full, this surprised him since normally he would have already been half way through but now this? Was that because he wanted to stay as long as possible with Mai? He should know these answers but every time he just drew a blank. He sighed again now in frustration.

His head was hurting from all these confusing thoughts in just one day, true he usually thought a lot, even more then this but his head had never hurt from the pressure and there were little thoughts that confused him, but today he had the most confusing thoughts then he'd ever experienced.

Thinking that he'd crack from the strain of his thoughts he quickly finished his tea, reluctantly avoiding Mai's eyes in the process.

He laid his empty cup on the table and withdrew the locket which he had found near Mai's desk.

It was a beautiful necklace, a heart with a butterfly attached to it had crystal gems in it, it looked expensive, Mai couldn't afford such a luxury.

(1)

He put it in the center of the table. Mai picked it up and put it on where it glimmered on her neck.

"It was my mothers'. She always had great taste in things, but my dad- you wouldn't believe what a horrid taste he had," Mai said pulling a face.

"Oh, so you got your taste from your father, that explains a lot of things" Naru said raising an eyebrow at her.

Mai's face turned red, "It's not like I can buy designer things like you do, you know," she said in an angry voice.

Naru chose to ignore her.

Something in the corner of the lounge caught Mai's eye, she whipped her head around and eyes widened in surprise because the exact replica of Naru stood outside the door of her room, "Gene!" Mai exclaimed but just as she had said his name he started to disappear.

Narus' eyes widened in surprise at her words and whipped his head to the place she was staring at, "Gene?" he asked confused.

A/N: I'll leave off here till the next chapter, hehehe, I always wanted to do a cliffhanger. =D And if you guys want to know what kind of necklace Mai has, I posted a link in my profile, feel free to check it out. =)


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Losing Control **

**Part 2:**

"Gene?" Naru asked confused.

Mai stiffened up, realizing that she must have caused Naru some real pain by calling out his dead brothers' name so suddenly. She shook her head and said nervously, "It's nothing, I'm just tired- I must be seeing things, and I'm sorry that you had to hear his name and at a time like this," her voice was full of apology.

He ignored her apology and stood up and sighed, "I'll be going now Mai, unlike you I don't have a lot of time in my hands," annoyance was coursing through him and he had had enough of his jumbled up emotions as he tried to figure to out why he'd be annoyed with Mai after she mentioned Gene's name. It would be natural giving the circumstances of having to hear his dead brother's name all of a sudden, but that wasn't it. He couldn't place a finger on what could have caused this reaction, he was getting angry now and he could sense Mai look up at him surprise, most probably she thought that he was upset at her slip and she looked guilty and hurt both at the same time.

He wrenched his eyes from the seemingly painful sight of seeing her hurt; he didn't care, well not right now since he thought he'd lash at her from his anger at not understanding his emotions.

"Ok, Naru if you say so," her voice shook with nervousness as she stood up to follow him to the door.

She watched him through the door where he stopped and turned around to look at her for a moment longer and the breaking eye contact with her he proceeded to climb the stairs down.

**Midnight: **

Mai lay awake in bed; it had been over thirty minutes since she had taken her medicine and was feeling sleep come over her slowly.

**Mai's Dream:**

Mai was under water or at least she thought so, her eyes were closed but she could feel her self submerged in some liquid drifting slowly to its' unknown depths.

Something was off though, she could feel disgust and bile rising in her stomach, 'why would that be?' and now that she thought about it, the feel of the liquid around her was thicker than normal water.

Slowly she opened her eyes and the disgust and bile rose to her throat as she realized that instead of water she was submerged in blood, she could only see red and nothing else in front of her.

Her eyes were widening in fear and terror and when something collided against her bare arm she tensed and looked down to her arm only to open her mouth in a silent scream at the sight of a disembodied head of a man, it was sunken, no eyes and pale as white chalk.

She kicked out in panic and realized that she wasn't breathing, why that affected her now she had no idea but she clutched at her throat in desperation refusing to let her breath out in the disgusting fluid.

She hit more disembodied parts but she did not want to look at what these were and she had other problems at her hand, like breathing in blood for instance and just as this thought crossed her mind the iron-like smell of blood filled her nose even though she wasn't breathing, 'how is that possible?' she thought dully trying to kick out to propel her self to what she hopefully thought was the surface of the blood ocean.

She kicked out harder colliding with the body parts, she pushed her self more forcefully as her lungs contracted painfully from the lack of oxygen.

With one final kick she broke the surface and gasped in to fill her lungs with bitter cold air, her chest searing with the cold.

She looked around, she seemed to be in some sort of lake-oddly the place seemed familiar- though as it was dark she couldn't make out her surroundings properly.

She propelled herself to what she hoped was the lake bank, ignoring the blood and the body parts which made up the contents of the lake.

She stopped as she collided with a full body instead of a disembodied one and this one was coming up towards her instead of drowning like the others, her muscles tensed up in fear and when the body broke surface that she could see whose body it was, her eyes widened and she let out her most earsplitting scream ever as she realized what lake she was in.

**-Dream End- **

Mai sat up in bed screaming in agony at the sight of Gene's dead body, the same body that the divers had extracted from the bottom of the lake over a year ago.

She couldn't get the image out of her head and she was still screaming her head off, tears trailing continuously down her cheeks.

She had no one to comfort her now from her nightmare, she was alone in her tiny apartment.

She stopped screaming and noticed the deadly silence that surrounded her as she realized that she was covered in something wet.

She opened her eyes and started screaming again, she was covered in blood- the same blood that had surrounded her in her dream, she thought that her head would explode from the terror, shock and agony she was suffering right now.

Her white bed sheets were stained with red as well.

'This was not happening!' she screamed in her head as she started wailing out like a little child. She was flailing in her bed kicking her legs out in desperation as though she was still stuck at Gene's Lake.

She fell out of her bed still screaming, her throat searing with the effort. She landed on the wet floor- wet floor? She stopped screaming in surprise and opened her eyes again, her eyes widened even more if that was possible at the sight before her, her room was flooded with blood, the scream that come to her lips stopped in her throat and she realized that she had injured her throat with all the screaming and yelling.

She couldn't take it anymore, she just couldn't, she crawled over the blood covered floor to her bedside table thinking of just one person-Naru.

She grabbed her mobile, the smell of blood sharp in her nose.

She was still crying and sobbing as she tried to dial his number and tried to calm herself down. Though she had reached the emotional extreme in this case, fear, terror, agony, shock and dread raced through her body with adrenaline pumping ever so fast alongside them.

She thought that her nerves would never heal from the shock and she was dead cold, she could see her breath form in front of her and she was shivering and trembling from the shock and cold.

She glanced at her clock and saw that it was 3:00 am in the morning, but she didn't care, she needed Naru right now, she was desperate for the terror to end.

She dialed his number with trembling fingers, it rang for awhile and when she thought that he wouldn't pick up his annoyed voice filled her ears, "Mai, why are you calling at this hour?"

Mai didn't know what to tell him, she couldn't put it into words what she wanted to tell him. She remained silent until Narus' sharp voice filled her ears making her wince in fright, "Mai-!"

He was cut off by Mai's cracked voice, "N-Na-Naru," she sobbed, there was silence on the other side evidently he had not expected to her voice to be so weak and cracked.

Then her emotions burst through as the drip drip of the blood falling from her ceiling resounded in her ears like a scream.

"Naru, I'm so-so scared, I don't want to b-be alone!" she cried in to the phone, her restrained sobs breaking through her as Narus' voice filled her ears, "I'll be there in 15 minutes!" and he cut off the connection.

Mai dropped her cell phone in the blood and started crying into her bloodied hands.

Naru cut off the connection to his Mai's sobbing and strained voice.

He had been awake reading a file on the Fumio case when his cell phones' buzz rang through the air. He had been annoyed that Mai had called him at this hour, not even thinking about the reason why Mai would have chosen to call him at this time, being the cold-hearted jerk that he was, he cursed himself silently when he had heard Mai's voice.

Not bothering to wake up Lin and quickly grabbing his car keys he all but ran to his car, losing his calm head on the way, filling with worry, dread, concern and fear about what had happened to Mai.

He rammed his foot on the accelerator not worrying about any traffic.

He reached her place of residence in about ten minutes, he got out of the car and made his way to her block and climbing the stairs resolutely.

He stopped just outside of her door, not bothering to knock on her door he just used his PK to unlock it and ran inside, stopping at the sight before him eyes widening in shock and disbelief.

Mai's apartment was flooded with blood, there was also an ominous drip drip from her ceiling.

He could hear Mai's uncontrolled sobs filling the whole place.

He ran into her room, she was sitting on the floor sobbing into her hands, rocking back and forth.

He realized that she was also covered in blood, her stark white skin stood out in his eyes and she was trembling uncontrollably.

He ran to her, standing in front of her and kneeling down, "Mai," he whispered his voice calm and gentle.

She looked up from her hands and peered at Naru with eyes full of fear and terror, "Naru!" she squeaked before lunging at him, grabbing the front of his shirt and sobbing into it.

Butterflies erupted in Narus' stomach as Mai's fragile form collapsed against his chest, she was cold and Naru wrapped his arms protectively around her, he was feeling somewhat awkward being in this position, especially with Mai and he could feel his face warm up slightly as emotions thudded in his chest and mind. It was natural, he was a man who kept his barriers secure around him and physical touch was one of those barriers, though as the circumstance required it he had to shatter it for the sake of this girl.

Though if he thought about it he came to the conclusion that if it had been any other girl he would not so easily comply even if she had suffered the same ordeal as Mai.

He shook his head ridding himself of these unnecessary thoughts at the moment and spoke, tentatively, "Mai?"

Her grip was tight on his shirt and he thought desperately of a way to comfort her, he had always been emotionally awkward. He sighed.

He rubbed his hands into her back soothingly, he had always seen his mother do that to Gene whenever he was upset. Goosebumps erupted on his arms as he felt her back, the same unknown emotion thudded in his chest more powerfully again with the adrenaline.

It was a pleasant sensation, holding her close to his chest, he sighed again, it was incredible how short of a duration it took his awkwardness to vanish away completely to be replaced by that of relaxation and comfort, he sighed again.

"Mai, you're alright now, I'm here," he said calmly, he hated it whenever she cried and now seeing the state of her apartment he couldn't blame her for her uncontrolled emotions, he puzzled over how blood had flooded her room.

He stood up, supporting Mai against him, not letting go of her, he adjusted his grip on her waist as she drew closer to him.

He looked over at her bed and saw that the sheets were crumpled up and were tainted with blood, he sighed again as Mai regained control over herself.

He decided that making her a cup of tea would be a good idea, he looked down at her now limp form against his chest.

He placed his hands on her shoulder and gently drew her away, "Mai, do you have tea?" he asked her cautiously.

She shook her head looking at him with her tear filled eyes.

Naru sighed yet again, he knew of a café which was open 24 hours a day, he debated whether to take her there or not, it seemed like a good idea.

"Mai, come with me," he said peering down at her.

She looked confused before asking, "W-where Naru?" her voice was still shaking.

"I know of a café, let's go there and get you away from this place," he said gently, tightening his grip on her shoulders, she was still pale.

She nodded and moved to pick up her glasses and shove them on, she grabbed a jacket and put it on, she took Naru's hand as they made their way to the door, the sound of their feet resounding in the blood, making Mai slightly sick.

He led them down the stairs and out into the chilly night.

He opened the door for Mai and only took the driver seat when she was buckled in.

Naru drove to the all night café in silence, it was a comfortable silence and Mai had calmed down a lot, he'll ask her what had happened to her over a cup of hot tea.

Mai looked at the inside of the small café, it was empty except for a man sitting at the back, and he looked to be sleeping.

Naru led Mai to the opposite back of the café and sat down in front of her, waiting for the maid to come take their orders.

He looked down at Mai, she was still pale and she was looking down at her lap, her hair had dried blood in it, he doubted whether she would attract much attention at a time like this.

His eyes softened at her fragile sight, so much that even he did not notice the change.

His heart pounded at her sight making it swell again but he chose to ignore these signs for now, though he was finding that hard at the moment.

Mai looked up with saddened brown eyes and pierced his own dark blue ones, something shifted in his heart as he saw a flash of pain flick across them.

Naru was about to say something when the maid came over to take their orders, she batted her eyelashes at him but his eyes held no interest in her and ordered two cups of tea without even looking at her, Mai eyed the waitress glumly as she tried to flirt with Naru.

Naru couldn't bear to watch that expression and he knew it was because of the way the waitress kept flirting with him-Mai loved him he thought a little smugly.

But it wasn't jealousy that he saw in her eyes-no as far as he was concerned Mai didn't get jealous of anyone- no it was pain and sadness and he realized then and there the pain he had been causing her all this time.

He eyed the waitress annoyed, who seemed to falter under his stern gaze and slouched off with their orders for tea, he sighed, now guilt pelted through him as he remembered the words he had said to her when she had confessed, 'Is it me that you love or Gene?' pain like an electric charge crossed his heart and mind both.

He averted his eyes from her and stared guiltily at his own hands perched in front of him, why did he had to be such a cold-hearted person? He should have realized that he had been causing her pain while she stayed near him knowing all too well that the man she loved had turned her down, he sighed again Mai was quite good at hiding her pain because of her cheerful and preppy attitude.

Not to mention that everybody had been shocked to find out that she was an orphan because she was happy all the time, no body would have ever suspected that, not even him.

Mai placed a shaking hand on the table, he had a sudden urge to grab it as his heart thudded into his throat.

"Naru, I have to go to the washroom," Mai said peering nervously at him, she was feeling nauseous, and she couldn't afford Naru to find out that she had glaucoma being the genius bastard that he is.

He merely nodded, his face was still emotionless as ever, she sighed as she made her way to the ladies restroom.

It was empty and she moved over to the sinks to catch her reflection in the mirror- she looked horrible- she was shockingly white with blood matted in her hair, she doubted whether the waitress had took notice of it since her eyes had been glued on Naru.

She shook her head, she was being stupid, she knew that he was a good-looking guy but that had never applied to the outside world, she sighed.

She thought back to the body that she had seen, for moment there she had thought that it was Naru but she knew that she had been wrong, it was Gene.

She opened the tap and washed her face trying to wipe the image out of her head.

She thought back to Naru, she knew that he cared about her, he was a human being after all he had feelings after all no matter how hard he tried to conceal them everybody had their faults and she accepted Naru with all his faults, she even loved it when he would scold her, she sighed again, the consequences of true love she thought dully.

The nausea seared and she vomited blood into the sink, she heaved again and another spout of blood fell into the sink, she was panting with the effort but she felt considerably better with all the blood spouting, maybe she had swallowed the blood at the lake but as far as she was concerned her dreams had never affected her in a physical way, so why now? And the way her apartment was flooded as well as though the lake had come with her into the real world.

She slumped her shoulders as some heavy weight she had not realized lifted from them after throwing up the blood.

She washed her mouth and rid the sink of any traces of blood.

She left the washroom and joined Naru on their table.

Their tea hadn't come yet and she still felt a little shaken but a whole lot better then before.

She sighed as the waitress came with their tea and batted her eyelashes at Naru who glared at her in annoyance which only resulted in her spilling their tea as she set them down with shaking hands and took off immediately afraid for her life, Mai suppressed a giggle with difficulty.

Naru raised his eye brow at her and said, "Feeling better?" his voice was calm but Mai could see the concern behind his words, she gave a small smile and nodded once before taking a sip while the tea was still hot.

"So, Mai what happened?" Naru asked his eyes intense boring into hers.

She looked up at him and set her tea cup down and said, "I had a dream, this time I was in a lake blood and bodies," she shrugged at the memory, "I couldn't breathe and propelled myself to the surface when I broke it I saw a familiar place at the time I couldn't think why it was so familiar until a body collided with mine and I could see who it was," she took a deep breath here avoiding Narus' gaze, "It was G-Gene," she said, she felt Naru stiffen up at her words and sighed, "What happened then?" he asked calmly.

"I woke up screaming and realized that I was covered in blood and so was my apartment that's when I called you, not able to bear the terror anymore," her voice had trembled through out her speech.

"I see," was his only response, Mai looked up at him in alarm and said, "But Naru, my dreams haven't affected me in the real world before so why now?"

He looked at her and sighed, he had an absurd feeling as to why she'd experienced this phenomenon it looked like astral projection to him and she had been unstable after her bout with Masaru Fumio earlier this day and that could easily be the reason to cause of her ordeal, he sighed again and saw her peering at him expectantly.

"Mai, you were in an unstable position after Masaru Fumio had attacked you that may easily be the reason behind this amount of astral projection," he stated gazing sternly at her.

"Astral projection, so that's what caused all the blood?" she wondered aloud. He nodded his gaze was intense as he looked at her.

"Though the result was at a very large range I'm surprised that you haven't collapsed from the all the energy that you used," he stated glaring at her.

She looked at him in surprise and confusion, "Then being unstable might be dangerous, right?" she asked anxiously.

He looked at her for a moment debating whether to tell her the truth or not, eventually he said, "Yes, that is a possibility," he crossed his arms and frowned seemingly in deep thought.

"Then what should I do?" she asked frustratingly.

"Train," he said simply.

**A/N: I'm leaving off here, I'll get to Chapter 6 when I can until then you should keep on a look out for one-shots from me cuz I wanna try em =)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Losing Control**

**Part 2:**

**Day 2:**

**12:00pm:**

Mai was taking a shower, it had been 5o'clock in the morning when Naru had dropped her off at her place only to find that the blood had mysteriously disappeared. He had tucked her in and asked for her spare house key before leaving.

Naru had promised to help with her powers and preparations for her examinations as well. She sighed she had had a headache thinking about all the burdens that were weighing on her shoulders.

She stepped out of the shower and got dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved black shirt with a white flower pattern.

She was ravenous now, she wanted a big meal, this might be the result of all the astral projection she did last night. She looked in her fridge, the only thing she saw were some eggs and a small loaf of bread, she sighed she had to go out if she wished to satisfy her hunger.

She grabbed her money and put on a jacket before leaving and locking the door.

She was feeling strange, unreal like, as though she were in a dream, she put her foot on the first step and stopped overcome by vertigo, she held her head to steady the world.

When her vertigo was gone she stood for a moment wondering whether her glaucoma was to blame, shaking her head slightly she took a tentative step on the step below when her world didn't spin she sighed in relief and descended the stairs. Unpleasant knots clenching and unclenching in her stomach.

She stepped out of the building only to stop at the sight before her eyes, there were some people outside, probably from the other blocks but the strange thing was that they were surrounded by an aura and different colors of aura at that.

The aura encompassed them as their outline but there weren't just one color some even had a number of colors radiating around them as though they were some weird rainbow machine.

Mai has never experienced such a sight it was really odd and beautiful at the same time to see the color of emotions radiating from the people and at the same time it was unseating and unpleasant since she wan't used to seeing things like this.

Trying to comprehend her situation Mai deduced what they were feeling by the color, a lady exiting the gate had a depressing dark blue aura around her.

Mai also noticed the 'intensity' of the colors also varied as though telling her that the person was feeling a strong emotion or a feeble one.

'No wonder people got affected by other people's feelings,' she thought wonderingly.

Naru had told her that she may experience some odd phenomena now that she was in such an unstable position, he had told her to drop by if she was going through such things.

So instead of the market Mai set out for SPR staring in wonder at all the colors, some were bright, some were dull, it must vary according to the person's personality.

Now that she looked on the bright side of her advancing powers she couldn't help but feel elated and that was Mai Taniyama for you, looking to the bright side even when situation was so dire and confusing.

She gazed wonderingly at everybody's colors, she had to admit though that all was not sunshine and flowers as she noticed a particularly malevolent aura coming from a man who stood outside an antique shop, she cringed realizing that he had intentions of theft.

She quickly walked away from him when his gaze shifted to her and the color around him changed to a lustful purple- dark and uninviting and she avoided his eyes afraid to see what she might find in them.

But he had reached his hand to her wrist to stop her, 'No!' she thought panic-stricken but the expected touch of his fingers didn't come instead she felt the man jerk away from her in surprise and she casted her eyes to her hand which was seemingly stuck in the man's hand as though she were nothing but an apparition, her eyes widened in surprise and she jerked back as the man fled away probably thinking her a ghost.

She tripped on her two feet and landed head-first on to the road little stars erupted her vision, she heard a car screech in emergency she closed her eyes thinking of Gene's death but the collision never came instead she felt an odd sensation rip through her body as though she were being warped through something and her stomach clenched painfully.

She opened her eyes only to see that the car had stopped a few feet ahead of her, it seemed as though she had passed through the car just like she had done with the man's hand.

Her stomach muscles had contracted painfully and now they felt as though someone had tried to pull them apart and she brought her knees to her stomach her arms around her belly as she whimpered in pain.

It had felt like a life-time had passed by but in reality it was just a few seconds when she heard a familiar voice call her name and heard footsteps coming towards her, "Mai,!" she opened her eyes to find dark blue eyes gazing at her emotions swirling through them.

She looked to the figure of Naru he was surrounded by a number of colors, red-for fear and it was radiating quite brightly at that, deep blue- for concern, and a sickening green for panic.

She heard more footsteps as Naru kneeled at her head, "Is she alright?" a terrified voice greeted her ears and she saw a new color emanate from Naru one of a snarling blue for annoyance but it was dim as he said, "She's fine," he looked down at Mai, she was laying in a fetal position and she was pale almost on the brink of transparency, the footsteps died away as Mai shifted her self on to the pavement while trying to sit up but wincing at the pain in her stomach.

Naru offered her a hand, his eyes widened slightly as her hand went through his, Mai groaned in agony, now she couldn't get to touch Naru. She thought sadly as she saw the color of shock a vivid white one ebb away from him to be replaced by that of serene blue the color of understanding and comprehension.

She closed her eyes again when Naru spoke, "Come on Mai take deep breaths, try to calm your body, relax, loosen up your body, you can do it Mai. It won't hurt when you do," he told her calmly, she opened her eyes and tried to take deep breaths- shuddering breaths at that, she tried to loosen her body up but it only made her agitated when the feeling in her stomach didn't stop.

"You're doing a great job, Mai, loosen up," he looked down at her face contorted with pain as she tightened her grip on her stomach and brought her knees closer to her abdomen.

He daren't touch her in fear that his hands might get stuck in her body, that would be unpleasant not only for him and Mai but also the people who'd cast their eyes on them.

He felt her let out a deep breath and her body went limp in exhaustion but he noticed that she was now trembling from sobs. He also noticed the transparency around her disappear.

He let out a sigh of relief knowing that her state had passed for the time being, he reached out a hand towards her hands, hesitating slightly, that were covering her face and pulled them away to look at her tear-stained face and he hauled her in into his arms wrapping one arm around her waist tightly while the other rested on her shoulder.

He felt the sensations pelt his body which he had felt when he had hugged her for the first time. Butterflies-pleasant butterflies he thought as he casted his head down looking at her from the corner of his eyes and wondering of things that Oliver Davis never had time to wonder of, 'Why am I feeling like this every time I'm around her?' he pondered ignoring the wetness that had ensued into his shirt from Mai's tears. He stroked her hair absent-mindedly as the smell of Mai's hair reached his nose he closed his eyes breathing deeply moving his head to rest on her shoulder.

Her sobs reached his ears and his chest constricted painfully from the sound and he tightened his arms around her, the one that had rested on her shoulders now rested on the back of her head pulling her closer to him. "It's alright Mai, it's over, you're fine Mai, you're safe," he told her soothingly.

He felt her sobs subside eventually and opened his eyes to see Mai looking up at him, he averted his gaze from hers as though afraid that she might see something in them that he wished to hide.

He stood up slowly offering a hand for Mai to take who wiped at her tears and stood up using his help, she was exhausted and she slumped onto Naru's chest weakly, he let her stay like that for a while before grabbing her forearms and leading her to the car that she had nearly collided with.

(A/N: Weren't expecting that were you? Hehehe, Well neither was I *sheepish Look*)

He had been afraid that he had killed her when he had seen her collapse on the road and an unimaginable fear had settled over his body when he had failed to stop, luckily this day had proven in favor for both them.

His heart was still beating frantically at the aspect of losing Mai and moreover by his own hands by the use of a car which was also the reason why his brother was dead and he didn't want to lose anyone else especially Mai of all people.

She was a unique person with a cheery countenance even in dire situations, a magnanimous heart, a great sense of humor and what most intrigued him was the fact that she hadn't been affected by his good looks as was usual with girls around him- no she was different, not only did she not fall for him at first sight she also didn't tolerate his cold attitude or his pride and that was a first for him. And he loved teasing her just to savor the change that she had brought along with her in his life not mention that he found it amusing at times.

Not to mention that she had treated him the same way even after she found out that he was none other then Oliver Davis. She was quite something else and it hadn't taken him a lot of time to figure out that she was special to him but he was afraid that the new emotions he had been experiencing lately might hinder in their relation.

Though now that he thought about it, he sidled a glance at her as he drove for her apartment, that even Mai's confession hadn't changed anything in their relation or that could be due to the fact that he had thought that she was in love with Gene or until recently- and the events of the Fumio case flashed across his mind the words that had been said through Mai's mouth resounded in his head, 'It was you all along,'.

He hadn't acknowledged to Mai that he had ever heard such a thing, truth be told he didn't know how to handle this type of relation and he would be like a lost child if he ever acknowledged it and he didn't want to think how that would affect his relation with Mai.

He sighed, glaring at the road in front of him.

He would give anything to the world to be by Mai to protect her and to hold her as were the most recent cases and he couldn't help it but his heart beat frantically at the thought as blood rushed to his brain and he still couldn't find what his emotions meant.

Mai had been observing Naru from the corner of her eyes the aura effect still lingered and she saw a lemon yellow aura swirling at him- the color of confusion.

She wondered if the prospect of her increasing powers would be the cause of his confusion, 'but he has a doctorate in parapsychology,' she reasoned idly, 'could it be that her case was proving difficult even for THE great Oliver Davis,' she sighed, 'perhaps' and she wasn't enjoying any moment of this, if all, she wished things to go back to normal like they were when she just used to have lucid dreams.

She had been too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice that he had stopped his car at the gate that led to where she lived.

Naru had been eyeing Mai somewhat dejectedly, she was losing herself in this thing, he had to do something to prevent her from going into her shell which hardly ever happened but this case was different. If he didn't do anything she would slip into depression and lose her happy side he could see it already happening as he looked at her glum and downcast face.

Deciding what he'd do he cleared his throat pulling her out of her musings and opened his door and stepped out.

Mai blinked several times before realizing that the car had stopped moving and that Naru was waiting for near the gate.

She got out uncertainly, 'wasn't he just supposed to leave after this?' she thought confusedly as she looked over at him taking in his deep blue aura of determination and resoluteness.

They both entered Mai's flat.

Naru watched Mai move towards her kitchen instead of sitting at the table he grabbed Mai's arm and led her over to her bed making her lie down forcefully, she glared at him, he glared back unperturbed.

"Stay," he said sternly he saw the red flush her face and she opened her mouth to argue, "I'm not a dog, you jerk," she huffed at him.

"Mai," Naru said sternly as Mai sat up in bed.

"I have to use the washroom," she told him crossing her arms.

He didn't acknowledge her statement but didn't protest as she stood up, straightening her glasses and heading out the door.

Might as well start what I came here for and he stood up to pack Mai's possessions in her bags.

Mai was feeling nauseous and the knots in her stomach were unclenching uncomfortably. She heaved into the toilet as the vertigo returned full force and before she knew it she had slumped down on the bathroom floor trying to make sense of her surroundings as the nausea seared again. 'This feels like hell,' she thought her throat hoarse all of a sudden.

She gained some what sense of direction as the knots started to disappear and she leaned over the toilet heaving again as the nausea lifted.

She slumped back on the floor knees weak and sighed exasperatedly.

She got up gingerly and pulled the flush before brushing her teeth for a few moments.

She wiped her head of the sweat and straightened her glasses.

She opened the door and stepped out, Naru was no where to be seen but she did hear a sort of shuffling from her room, curious as to what Naru might be doing she opened the door to her room and froze in shock.

There was a luggage bag sitting at the foot of her head not to mention that the place looked as though it had been striped clean of everything not that she had a lot of possessions.

Dread filled her heart as she stared at Naru's back who was standing outside her closet door, something was off and Mai feared the worst as she noticed that his posture very stiff as though he was trying to restrain himself, she squinted and noticed that he was holding something in his hands.

Naru turned to look at Mai slowly, his eyes devoid of any emotion his jaw was clenched tight, his face was emotionless as ever.

Even though the aura state had finished off now she could sense the anger flowing through him.

She had never faced the aggressive side of Naru before at least not this aggressive and she cringed visibly as he took a step towards her the things that he had been clutching dropped to the floor with a small thud and she knew that her secret was out, she had been cornered by a man who looked as though he could kill.

"N-n-naru?" she said, her voice weak and scared and her eyes.

His eyes that were devoid of any emotion before now had intense emotions swirling in them now.

"So, Mai having a nice time?" he said sarcastically, his anger was barely concealed.

"Wha-? Na-Naru?" she said taking a step back from his slowly approaching figure.

"Why?" he asked, his mask was still in place but she could feel something other then anger behind his voice what was it-pain?

"Na-Naru, I don't-" she began but was cut off by Naru's voice, it was beyond scary how his voice had remained calm but had conveyed his emotions without any fault?

"Don't play dumb Mai, you know what I'm talking about," he approached her, grabbing her arm and forcing her against the wall she yelled as tears threatened to fall on to her cheeks.

His hands were gripping her arms painfully as he held her against the wall, keeping his distance but still dominating over her as he gazed at her sternly.

"Tell me why," he said-more like ordered as he shook her slightly.

"Ow- Naru! Stop! You're hurting me!" she protested as tears finally spilled onto her cheeks, but he didn't let go of her, she could hear him breathing deeply, trying to master himself.

"I'm tired of your idiocy!" he snarled at her, making her cringe in fright as her glasses slid off her nose making them lop-sided, but Naru put them forcefully back to their original position making her wince as one of the edges made contact with the white of her eyes.

"Mind telling me the _real_ reason why you have glasses, Mai?" he spat at her.

"Naru- I-" she was cut off again.

"I get it, the term 'family' was a joke, right? We mean nothing to you, right? _I _mean nothing to you, right? Of course if you did you would have _trusted_ us you would have told us that you were going _blind _that you would have told _me _that you were going blind, or was your confession just a bunch of words with no meaning behind them? If it_ had _meant anything to you then you would have told me, right? Or do you think that I'm a robot without _any _consideration of others? That's why you didn't tell me, right? That I had no emotions- that I didn't _care _about you?" he snarled in her face, his frustration at her getting the best of him as he let his façade slip into that of pain and agony.

Mai was sobbing, uncontrollable, "No, Naru! That's not right, I _do _care, Naru. That's the reason I didn't want to tell anyone-I-I didn't want anyone to worry," she sobbed, the fact that Naru had shown her the pain that he felt didn't help her regain control over her.

"I'm so sorry, Naru, I'm so sorry," she pleaded him.

He, himself could feel his throat constrict painfully and a lump formed there and he felt moisture gathering at his eyes, 'No!' he won't let her see him like this, it had been so long from the time he wanted to cry- the last being when he had seen Gene's death.

He was breathing heavily, trying to subdue the lump in his throat and to ease the pain in his heart, but had suffered so many pain from the beginning but none had ever rendered him so out of control.

"I didn't k-know what to do, Naru, I was so s-scared at the beginning. I didn't want anyone to suffer my pain, Naru. I didn't want _you _to suffer because of me, Naru," she said, gently, tears brimming down her cheeks uncontrollably.

"How do you think I'm feeling right now?" he snarled at her, shaking her again as a cry of pain escaped from her lips.

"I'm so sorry, Naru. I'm sorry," she cried between tears.

Naru abruptly let go of her arms and she slumped down to the floor, covering her face in her hands sobbing into them.

He had to regain himself, he knew that what was done, was done, he couldn't reverse this, could never reverse this, just like his brothers' death, but he would never let go of her, he would be by her side even if she slips into the darkness, he would never let go, never.

**A/N: Ohhhh, I loved this chapter, I don't know why, though it was a little difficult to write. And I apologize if Naru seems a little OOC at the end, hopefully you'll tell me, right? R and R.**

**Naru: *death glare* don't hurt Mai.**

**Me: Oh!** **Naru-chan! But I love Mai-chan, don't you so too?**

**Naru:*stares coldly* When will you tell me what I'm going through?**

**Me: You're a Ph.D, figure that out yourself.**

**Naru: Hmph!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Living Together **

**Part 1:**

**Day 1:**

**2:00 pm:**

Mai sat in the sitting area of Naru's apartment with her books in her hands poring over them-memorizing every word.

They had arrived thirty minutes ago with Naru carrying her luggage; he had informed her that she would be moving in with him due to the instability of her powers. He had also told her that he would be selling her furniture off since she had no use of it any more and would hand her the money when it was dealt with. He had also told her that he would deal with her tenant as well.

He had clenched her shoulder tightly before heading next door to Lin's apartment telling her that he'd be back in a short while.

His apartment was westernized compared to the custom in Japan; it had a nice balcony that looked over the city, two bedrooms with attached washrooms a nice kitchen with a table for four placed there in the middle.

The floor was made of dark-colored wood and the walls were white-washed. He had really nice furniture- a modern leather sofa with a coffee table placed in front of it in the lounge. He had a middle-sized plasma T.V that hung on the white wall and a black, elegant rug.

The room that she would be occupying had a wooden queen-sized bed with dark blue bed sheets and lots of pillows and cushions, two bedside tables, a dressing table with a long mirror and a black rug placed at the foot of the bed and a closet with mirrors fitted in the doors. Her room even had a small balcony attached with sliding glass doors leading out.

She had unpacked her luggage and on Naru's order had taken out her books to study.

He had consoled her to his best ability when she had collapsed on the floor crying and he had apologized as well that he had hurt her but she had shook her head at his apology as he had wiped her tears before bringing her here.

She knew how much his actions had meant to her that he'd be here even when she won't be able to see him and he'd grasp her hand when she would lumber around getting used to the permanent darkness. She knew that he wasn't romantically interested in her but the mere fact that he hadn't avoided her or shunted her away after he came back was enough for her. She smiled slightly; he also didn't turn away when he found out that she wouldn't be useful to him any more on investigations. He was a true friend even though he avoided showing it.

The door opened, Mai looked up from her book to find Naru coming through the door with Lin right behind him, who had a grim expression on his face.

Mai knew that Naru had told him about her glaucoma, she casted her eyes down sadly, this was bound to happen but she believed that Naru would give her the decision of telling the others except for Lin of course.

They approached her, they both sat at either side of her and she peered at Lin uncertainly as he opened his mouth to speak, "I am truly very sorry to hear about your ailment, Mai-san," the usually calm and stoic man had pain and sadness swirling in his eyes.

"Don't feel sad, Lin-san. I'm sure that everything will turn out to be just fine," she told him, smiling slightly but he looked at her doubtfully.

"I just want you to know that I'll support you to my best extent, you may not know it but you hold a special place in our hearts," he smiled at her and she returned a grateful smile back at him.

"Thank you, Lin-san that means a lot to me," she told him

Naru cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him, "You will be telling the others?" he said questioningly.

She looked at him, pondering over what might be the best thing to do, she didn't want them to worry not to mention that they'd go out of their way to support her and reassure her.

"I am sure that they would want to know," Naru told her, "Not confiding in them would probably hurt them if by chance they find out and I'm sure that your powers would be reason enough for them to sabotage my property. Though the entire decision rests upon your shoulders," he continued.

That was true and as much as she tried to keep them away she knew that she really needed them they were after all her family. She took a deep breath and nodded which resulted in Naru placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

She smiled at him as his eyes gazed into her but the moment was short-lived as he turned his gaze to the book that she was holding.

"Need any help?" he asked her.

She contemplated for a moment and nodded.

Having Naru's help in revision turned out to be a great deal of help as she found out in the next few hours. He had made the job easy for her and it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, though they both did have the occasional argument but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Later that day Naru took Mai out to grab lunch, Lin had refused the offer saying that he wasn't hungry so it was just Naru and Mai.

He had also allowed Mai to choose the place and she had chosen a modest restaurant that sold Japanese food.

Mai bounced happily leading Naru into the restaurant; he was relieved that Mai had cheered up.

They sat facing each other, "So Naru any new cases of yet?" she asked happily.

"No, not yet," he answered her simply.

"Are you expecting any?"

"I thought that spending two years with me would have enlightened you to a simple fact as that," he said, smirking at her.

Her face flushed, "Listen here, you pompous jerk-" but her sentence was cut off by the arrival of a waitress whose eyes were glued on Naru with admiration and she shot a filthy look at Mai, Mai gave her a smug look and stuck her tongue at her.

The waitress cleared her throat and addressed Naru, "May I take your orders?" her voice was sweet but he could detect the fakeness behind it. She batted her eyelashes at him, she seemed very bold, thought Mai but she didn't know Naru as she fingered the top two buttons on her shirt, Mai threw an amused look in Naru's direction, whose fingers twitched from the obvious boldness of the waitress.

He shot an annoyed look in her direction, who dropped her fingers and Naru said, "Yes, isn't that your job?" his voice was cold and the waitress flushed, Mai giggled.

He looked at her, and said, "What will you have? I'm paying for everything,"

"Everything you say?" she said peering at her menu when a grin spread on her face she was hungry-very hungry at that and ordered, "I'll have tempura donburi, inari, white cream korokke and yakitori," she said cheerily, grinning widely at the waitress whose lips were forming an unconscious pout before turning her attention back to Naru with renowned vigor as her eyes scanned his face, Naru raised his eyebrows coldly at her he had always been centered when it came to women and he didn't enjoy their stares at all and were much reason for his annoyance and grumpiness with women hitting on him right, left and center.

The maid flushed again, savoring her embarrassment he ordered, "Oyako Donburi, yakitori and prawn tempura,"

The maid sidled off with their orders leading Mai to burst into laughter after her.

"Found something funny?" Naru asked, raising his eyebrows at her laughing figure.

"Yes, of course. The reaction from the women is highly hilarious when you give them your cold- shoulder," she grinned at him cheekily.

"I've had too many occurrences with women," he told her giving her sour a look.

She giggled, "Have any stalkers back at England?" she asked innocently.

He stared at her coldly, "Apparently, though they hardly get past the door and not to mention my mother setting me up on blind dates,"

"Ohh that must feel like hell" she said matter-of-factly.

"Well due to my cunning I can easily detect what my mother has planned and I tend to avoid any meetings set up by her," he said smugly.

"Your head will explode Naru- no more! No more!" she covered her ears and shook her head dramatically before giggling again at his frown.

"You don't have any admirers?" he asked her casually, though he could not deny the curiosity that sprung in him at his question, he eyed her cautiously, not knowing why he would be all tensed all of a sudden and why getting the answer seemed so important to him.

She avoided his gaze as though betraying him before saying, "Yes, I do," she blushed lightly.

Naru stiffened; hurt flowing inside him along with yet another new emotion flowing this one seared his heart as though driving a needle in his heart. His face hardened but Mai did not look up at him to see his expression before saying, "They were really nice guys, as well," she continued oblivious to the man's discomfort.

"So you dated?" he asked his voice hard as his heart clenched painfully but she shook her head and smiled at him, "Never."

The reaction on his body by these words was tremendous, his heart unclenched, his body relaxed and his face softened somewhat and relief flowed through him.

She decided to change the subject, "Tell me about your parents, Naru," she asked sweetly.

Naru looked at her a moment before replying, "I'm an orphan Mai I don't have any biological parents," his voice was emotionless.

Mai looked at him indignant and angry all at once, "That's not what I meant, jerk," she crossed her arms and glared at him.

He smirked, knowing all too well the content that flowed through him at her outbursts.

"My father's a paranormal researcher he's the owner of the original SPR. My mother is… different, I guess you can call her that," he conceded in an off-hand tone.

"Different as in…?" she inquired.

"Much like you," he glared at her.

She looked surprised, "Like me?"

"Yes, hyper, happy the usual combination that you seem to present,"

Mai's face turned sour, "So… I remind you of your mother?" the bitterness in her tone was obvious.

He smirked, but chose not to answer as she glared at him.

He was done answering questions, he was curious to know about Mai as well, though she did seem very much obvious but there were still parts that he wanted to know, "What about your parents, what were they like?"

He watched Mai's expression turn to that of thoughtfulness as she tried to remember, "I don't remember much about my father except for the fact that I took his general appearance, brown hair, brown eyes, I guess. My mother was always the happy kind, even after dad died she didn't let me know that she was unhappy being as young as I was I couldn't entirely grasp the possibility of what it must have been for her," she looked at him, her eyes twinkling sadly from the memory, "I always had a great time with her, until that is she fell sick after a couple of years after dad passed away. I took to taking care of her with my studies and maintaining the house, seeing as the only income provider of our house had fallen ill our life reserves fell thin.

I had to eat dinner with her every night since she refused to eat alone and wouldn't hear of me going hungry just for the sake of her. She died on a weekend, I had gone out to the market and when I had returned she lay there, unmoving and…" her voice trailed off, her eyes casted down sadly.

Naru stared at the beauty that she was on the inside, how could he have been so stupid as the emotion that he couldn't recognize swirled inside him, realizing finally what it all meant. He sighed.

Just then the waitress came back with their orders and they ate in silence, Naru pondering over his new realization.

Not so long ago he had contemplated whether he was in love with the woman in front of him, he had told him self no but as memories swirled through him he found it difficult to be of the same thought as before.

The time when he had started to recognize the unknown emotion, which flowed through his veins even still, at the Fumio Mansion when Mai had been possessed and he was forced to acknowledge the fact- that she loved him.

The hatred that had flowed through him at the sight of Katsuya-san and Mai together, believing them to be lovers, the betrayal and hurt that had flowed through him at the realization that Mai's confession for him had been a joke. The annoyance that had filled him as she had mentioned Gene's name at her apartment- and the frantic beating of his heart every time that he looked at her.

The immense concern and dread that had filled his heart when Mai had called him that night and the butterflies that had erupted in his stomach as she had clung to him. How he had felt comfortable with holding her so near when he would never do such a thing for any other woman. The fact that he had wanted to grasp her hand at the table and why he had been so annoyed at the waitress who had flirted with him.

And why he had taken the spare key to her apartment after he had tucked her in her bed securely.

The reason why he had compelled her to move in with him because he was protective of her and the slip of his façade when he had come to realize that she was going blind.

And the insecurity and jealousy that had flowed through him when Mai told him that she did indeed have admirers.

The relief that he had felt when she told him that she had never dated and the guilt that had pelted him when he remembered what he had said to her at the lake.

He sighed, _now _he realizes what it all meant.

He was in love with Mai Taniyama the girl who gave him hell every other day and loved him like no other women he had encountered before, not because he was good-looking or anything.

He examined the emotion that he supposed was the love he felt for Mai- it was strong, warm and beautiful nothing he had ever experienced before.

He looked up at Mai and his chest swelled at her sight, his heart thudding wildly and his cheeks burning slightly at the smile that she gave him.

It was different to say the least and he didn't have a clue how to express it.

He sighed again, avoiding her gaze.

The fact that she was going blind did not hinder his feelings and he found that he wouldn't have cared if she grew blind or had a mental disorder, he would never want to leave her side.

So _this _was what true love felt like, he smiled to himself.

Mai looked up at Naru to find that he was looking at her, she smiled at him and he looked away. He seemed different all of a sudden, she just had a feeling that he was.

Naru realized that he was in a predicament, he didn't know what to do now, he knew that couples kissed but not having ever done such a thing he was utterly clueless as he contemplated how to do such a task while his cheeks burned again at the prospect of kissing Mai.

He knew that she wouldn't reject him but he couldn't deny the fact that this was turning things difficult.

He finished his meal and frowned at his empty plate in deep thought.

Unconsciously his brain drifted off to comparing his lunch with Mai to the disasters that he had faced at the hands of Masako Hara.

There was no comparison he thought smugly, he was comfortable with Mai where as he had always been stiff and not so compelling with Hara-san. She had always chosen the best places but he had never cared about that.

He was sure that he wanted Mai with him and wanted to give their relation a chance, he just didn't know how to do it. He sighed, frustrated.

He looked up to see that Mai had also finished her lunch and called over the waitress to come with the bill, having paid they got up and headed out the door.

The sun was already low in the sky as they made their way to the car.

The journey back to their apartment was silent yet comfortable.

**7:00 pm:**

Mai was yet again sitting in the lounge with her books in hand. Naru had left one hour ago telling her that he had some business to take care of and that Lin will be next door if she needed anything. Naru had waited for her nod before leaving.

Mai had even contemplated whether to go next door and avoid the loneliness that attacked het in the apartment but she had thrown the idea aside as she did not want to disturb the man.

She had felt a raging head-ache coming her way and the possibility of her huge lunch ending up in the toilet, sweat covered her forehead as her stomach ached.

She could already feel the food making its way to her mouth and she got up, dizziness taking over as she stumbled to the common toilet at the end of the lounge.

Her body trembled as she sat down gingerly in front of the toilet, covering her mouth as the bile rose.

Then it came and she heaved into the toilet her hair falling over her face as she trembled with cold in the middle of summer.

She felt the bathroom door creak open but didn't look up as a cool hand pulled her hair back while the other rubbed her back soothingly.

She heaved again, panting slightly with all the effort.

Her head ached more persistently and she closed her eyes against her throbbing temples and she heard something crack as she vomited again.

The hand that was rubbing her back clenched the fabric of her shirt tightly at the crack but resumed their task afterwards.

She heaved once more before the nausea lifted and she slumped back in relief hitting something hard in the process, looking up she saw Naru looking at the tiled floor as he released her hair and looked up at her.

He stood up, holding his hands out to her, she clenched them and stood up, her knees were still weak as he guided her to the sink so she could rinse her mouth.

Up on reaching the sink she realized that the mirror had cracked right down the middle, she looked up at Naru uncertainly, "I did t-that, didn't I?" she asked tensely.

He sighed, "You don't need to worry about it, you'll learn to control it over time."

She nodded slightly before running the tap and rinsing her mouth.

"Mai," Naru said, frowning at her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"The others, they're here. I called them," he told her gazing at her as she tensed up, nodded and sighed.

The task before-hand couldn't be avoided now as she headed out the door with Naru to see the people clustered around the lounge.

She sighed as their gazes turned to the two people now approaching the group.

**A/N: I LOVED this chapter. May be it's for the fact that Naru FINALLY realized his emotions. **

**And the lunch that they had consider it an unofficial first date for them, hehehe ;)**

**And thank you people for reading and reviewing. It encourages me. =D**

**So R and R and stay tuned for Chapter 8. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Living Together**

**Part 2:**

**Day 1:**

**7:30 pm:**

"Hey guys," Mai greeted them with a weak smile, she took a seat on the two-seater and Naru sat beside her.

They greeted her back, they looked curious and… worried, 'of course they'd be worried' Mai thought bitterly and sighed.

"We heard you getting sick back there," John said worriedly. This proclamation followed a gasp from Monk.

"What did you do Naru?" he asked dramatically, Mai blushed and Naru stared coldly at him.

"That's why you moved in with Naru, huh?" Yasuhara asked straightening his glasses.

"What? Mai's not-? Are you?" Ayako yelled concernedly.

The others gaped at Mai and then burst out in congratulations, the irony of it, thought Mai blushing furiously and finally snapping seeing the amused look on Naru's face.

"Of course not guys! How could you think such a thing!" she said angrily crossing her arms at them.

They didn't look quite abashed expect for John who apologized for the mistake.

"Then what's wrong? If you and Naru aren't-" Ayako said and Mai covered her face in embarrassment.

She sighed, the color fading from her face before looking at them resolutely.

She looked up when Yasuhara spoke, "Naru told us that you were having trouble with your powers after the last case?" his glasses glinted in the light overhead.

She took a breath gathering the courage, "That is one aspect but not the reason why I was sick," she said guiltily avoiding their gazes.

"I don't care what she says, personally I think she is why else would she get sick?" Monk whispered to Yasuhara slyly who nodded with a grin on his face.

Mai flushed angrily and burst out throwing her cushion at him, "How could say that, Monk! You dirty old man!" she said flailing her fists at him.

"Ow, ow, save me! Save me! I don't want to deal with this Mai!" Monk pleaded the empty air.

"Don't worry, my darling! I'm coming for you!" Yasuhara did a pose before trying to take him in his arms. Monk fell on the floor while trying to escape Yasuhara's arms, "Baka! Don't you get tired of all this nonsense?" he said massaging his head.

"Of course, not!" Yasuhara smiled mischievously and everybody burst out into laughter.

Mai laughed before remembering the reason why Naru had called them here and her face fell as everybody looked at her again when Naru cleared his throat.

"So what is it Mai?" asked John shyly.

Tears built up in Mai's eyes and she looked at her hands to hide them and Naru's fingers twitched in apparent self-restraint before giving in and taking her hand in his gently, he looked at her sideways as she looked up at him slightly surprised, the tears glinting in them.

Mai swallowed her tears and nodded in Naru's direction her hands shaking.

"I-" she broke off her voice choked, she felt Naru's grip tighten before she took in a deep breath and continued, "I haven't been very honest with you guys and I hope that you would forgive me for keeping this from you," she looked at every face in turn, their expressions became serious when she said those words and waited for her to continue holding their breaths, all thoughts of humor erased from their thoughts.

She took another deep breath and looked straight ahead of her, pain filling her heart as she clenched Naru's hand tightly, "I- I have glaucoma," she said in a shaky voice and looked at hers and Naru's hands clenched together.

The silence was uncomfortable as everybody stared at her in shock, trying to sink in the shocking information as tears escaped Mai's eyes and landed in her lap.

Mai wiped her tears and looked up to see them staring at her in shock, "I am sorry for not telling you guys b-before but I was just so scared and I didn't want any of you to worry about me so I withheld the information and I'll understand if you don't forgive me," her voice broke at the last sentence and tears fell down her cheeks.

The members of SPR looked at the girl who was so dear to them and one thought was clear to them all that they'd forgive her because she needed them through this ordeal and they knew how difficult it must have been for her all this time.

Ayako got up from her seat and hugged Mai tightly, "Oh, Mai! Don't say that, we forgive you! We'll be with you through this, no matter what," she smiled sadly at her who swallowed and said, "Really?"

"Of course," Yasuhara told her.

"Yes! You don't need to worry," the monk told her getting up from his seat and ruffling her hair.

She looked up at him, her tears flowing non-stop when John got up from his place and gave her a Christ Pendant saying, "I hope that this may help you through your ordeal since I don't really know how to comfort you," he said guiltily.

Mai shook her head and smiled at him, "No, this means a lot. Thank you."

Masako had also gotten up from her seat and made her way over to Mai slowly.

Mai looked up at her who put a hand on her shoulder and Mai smiled at her, Masako smiled sadly back, "Let it also be acknowledged that I will be here as well,"

"Thank you, Masako. That means a lot as well," Mai told her as everyone stood around her reluctant to leave her side.

"Come on Mai-chan!" Yasuhara said pulling her away from the group by her arm. Naru let go of her hand and crossed his arms eyes closed, Mai looked at him and he was stoic as ever.

Yasuhara pulled Mai to the kitchen where several bags of take away food sat on the kitchen counter, "I'm hungry! We should eat or I'll devour Taki-goo(AKA Monk)" Yasuhara pouted as Takigawa spluttered disgustedly and everybody laughed.

"Yasuhara, I'm sure he'll taste better while dipped in chocolate," Mai said mischievously and Yasuahra's eyes gleamed with humor.

"I'm sure that toe nails would taste better then that piece of rag," Ayako said conversationally while Takigawa cried on the floor, "You guys are so mean."

"Oh, don't worry Monk we're just pulling your leg," Mai smiled at him while she took the boxes out of the shopper.

"Yes, and I'd prefer it fried wouldn't you Mai-chan?" Yasuhara asked innocently.

"Whaaaaat?" Monk wailed out clutching his head in pure agony as Mai giggled.

"Stop teasing me guys," he pleaded them, dramatic with all the tears flowing from his eyes.

Everybody ignored him as they moved over to help Mai and Yasuhara with the dinner.

Naru watched Mai from his seat, she looked cheerful already as she laughed and smiled at the family around her.

His heart swelled at the sight of her happy face and he would do anything to stop the moment here and now so she didn't have to face the darkness and pain ahead of her. It'll be tough for her with her unstable powers and glaucoma and her upcoming exams, he sighed.

Such a happy person did not deserve all the suffering that Mai was facing, the loss of her parents, living alone, him rejecting her and leaving her alone again, financial problems, the glaucoma, unstable powers and exams. It was a wonder that Mai could still be happy with the amount that she had grown through and he was proud of the fact that she was strong in these matters.

When he had returned she hadn't clung to his arm begging him to take her nor had she held a grudge against him for saying what he had said at the lake, no she had readily forgiven him and was even pleased with his return and she had gone back to treating him like she always did.

For how many women could he say that for? None, they had always liked him for his good-looks and riches. Not to mention that the blind dates he had been forced into going compromised of girls fawning over his face, his success and his intelligence.

With Mai the case had been completely opposite; she hadn't fallen for his fake smile but had seen right through it and was less then eager to work for him when the other girls could have killed her just to be in his presence.

She had always reprimanded him for his cold behavior and lack of tact when other girls had run away from him in tears when he would give them his cold shoulder.

Her reactions to his antics always amused him and he was surprised to say the least when she had confessed, who would love a cold-hearted person as him when his brother had stepped in between yet again.

He had been sure that Mai had fallen for Gene since he was the kind-hearted and gentler of the two not to mention that he had that smile of his that Mai had fallen for like the other girls in his glorious days of life.

But now that he thought about it she hadn't experienced Gene the way she had experienced him. Memories flooded his brain as he remembered the time that they had been stuck in the sewer, the time the ceiling had collapsed in on them and he had shielded her body with his. The time they had been alone in the forgotten children case, she had shown then and there and how capable she could become if she was trained properly.

All those times when they had argued and she had literally given him hell on numerous of occasions; for e.g when she had told everybody about his spoon-bending when she had promised other-wise the fact that he had called her a wild animal referring to her abilities played a huge part in that outburst of hers.

He also remembered when she had given his identity away at Urado's case when he had revealed that they had come to investigate an imposter and she had accused him of deceiving people and the fact that he was running away from the case.

He also remembered the fear that built inside him when she had run off to rescue Miss Hara from the bloody room.

The time when she had hurt his overgrown pride at the cave and the fact that he had not been able to take it in.

He now realized that all those times his feelings for her had started to begin and he only just realized them.

He was also sure of the fact that the feelings that she held for him genuine and would he let a girl like her slip out of his hands, no he would not let her leave this time. He just needed time on how to convey it to her and that could take some time.

"Naru, here you go. Here's your part of the dinner," Mai's voice brought him back to reality as he looked at the smiling face of Mai holding a plate out to him.

He took it and watched Mai settle next to him as he looked over at the others as they had already begun their dinner.

He smirked at the thought that it wouldn't be bad living with Mai like they were married or something.

She would look after his basics needs instead of Lin now, he was sure of that since Mai was entirely that kind of a person and in return he would take care of her through this ordeal and tutor her so she could keep the scholarship for further studies.

He was more then willing to pay for everything but he knew that she would never accept lest he blackmail her into it.

He was also willing to sacrifice the privacy of his home to the SPR so she could get the proper support that she needed from everybody and not just him.

He dug into his plate silently, slightly amused at what was happening around him.

Yasuahara had been trying to feed 'Taki-goo' through his hands which resulted in him trying to get away from him and failing miserably till he burst, "I want to eat in peace, is that too much to ask?" Takigawa asked tear-faced.

"Not at all. If you want we could move to the bedroom, all alone and comfy on the bed," Yasuhara said hinting heavily to his intentions while the others snickered trying not to snort with their mouths full of food.

After dinner they had played cards, the loser after each round was given a dare to do.

It was only when Yasuhara had dared Takigawa to do a 'show' for them that Naru had called it a night and everybody left reluctantly.

**11:00 pm: **

Naru sat in the lounge poring over a book, everything was quiet in his apartment Lin had retired to his own apartment leaving Mai and Naru together at his apartment.

She was in the kitchen, he could hear her washing the dishes and humming to herself happily.

He set the book down intending to tell her that she should take her medicine and call it a day.

He moved silently to stand in the door way to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame to see that she was inspecting his cupboards which were piled with canned food and which were not all that nourishing.

She looked over to Naru with an annoyed look on her face, "You don't eat healthy, Naru"

He raised his eye brows at her, "Is that an offer to cook for me?" he tone was casual.

She glared at him, "Apparently, I don't want you to die from malnourishment, but I don't cook too much BUT I will be choosing your selection of food from now on. You got that?" her voice was stern.

"Point taken," he replied, "You should call it a night. You need to rest and since I'm not opening the office tomorrow I want you to wake up early for your study and training,"

She looked at him in surprise at the fact that he was not opening the office on her behalf which caused her to smile at him and follow him to her room.

He had taken her medicine and had ordered her to lie down in bed before hovering over her with the eye drops.

He knelt down and took her glasses off, she blinked at the sudden blurriness as his hand flew to her eye lid and held it open as he poured a few drops of the medicine in her left and right eyes.

She blinked several times trying to absorb the medicine while she could see the blurry shape of Naru kneeling over her.

She yawned forcing her to close her eyes and trail the medicine down her cheeks, "Idiot," she heard Naru whisper as she closed her eyes and knew no more.

Naru looked down at the now sleeping Mai. He placed the medicine on the bed side table and stared down at her.

She shifted in her sleep to her side facing him as a result a lock of hair fell over face. Naru brushed it aside his fingers gently trailing the skin of her face and tucked it behind her ear before kneeling down and kissing her gently on the forehead.

"I love you, Mai" he whispered in her hair before getting up and turning the lights off.

A/N: Another chapter! Hope you guys like it. And please tell me if Naru seems OOC then I'll try and keep IC.

Your reviews are always welcome. I also thank all those who reviewed up till now, anonymous or not. Cheers and stay tuned for Chapter 9! =D


	9. Chapter 9

**Power:**

**Chapter 9:**

**Teleportation:**

**Part 1:**

**A/N: Ah! Sorry I took such a long time to post this chapter but I have been busy with my studies and my main GH fanfiction by the name of Love Bound…feel free to check it out (^_^)**

**Anyways, I stated in Love Bound that I wouldn't be able to update this story and Threads until my summer vacations which are in July… and I just had to eat my words (-_-) **

**Other than that I'm not sure if I'll be posting another chapter after this or not anytime soon… I WILL complete this story and the others… if not now then definitely in the summer! But you shouldn't really trust my word… I don't either, for all we know I could end up updating the next chapter for this story instead of the others… I'm hopeless. **

**I'll try not to leave you on a cliffhanger…or maybe I WILL! *Evil laugh***

**There's one more thing that I wanted advice on:**

**It's my paragraphing, those who have read Love Bound would know the changed that I brought in my paragraphs and I was wondering if it's easy for you guys to read it like that or should I go back to the way it was before? The same will be held true for the other stories… I had written Power with long paras at the start but if it's difficult to read then I could always go back to short ones… do tell me… and just a note ahead: I will be doing the longer paragraphs for this chapter.**

**Anyways on with the chapter, hope you enjoy and don't forget to review !**

**Day 1:**

**10:00 am:**

Mai Taniyama was shifting uncomfortably in her sleep. She was lying on her back, one hand lying across her chest while the other rested against her head. The sheets were crumpled underneath her and she thrashed her legs in discomfort – sweat beading her forehead. She wasn't having a nightmare or one of her telepathetic dreams for that matter, but something was still plaguing her, even while she was asleep. Sweat trickled the corners of her wet eyes as she shifted her position – her face frowning and a pitiful pout accompanying her features. She let out a breath – desperate to wake up as she changed her position again, her arms flying out and hitting the side table with a painful thud.

She gasped awake, sitting up in bed – her hands clutching at the sheets below her tightly. She was panting – the sweat trailing down her face as she tried to focus her blurry sight on the wall in front of her. Nausea overtook her as tears of fright gripped at her eyes. She shot out of bed – blindly making her way over to where she deduced the washroom was. She stumbled on her feet as she groped one hand on the wall for support while the other was held to her mouth – holding the vomit in. She grasped the handle of the washroom door desperately and hauled herself in forcefully. She clasped the sink as she gasped for air and vomited, tears trailing down her cheeks, she was desperate for respite.

"Naru!" she yelled, her knees giving way. She crawled to the toilet bowl – heaving herself on weak arms and retched. A wail escaped her lips as she cried, wanting to see her surroundings properly, her predicament came crashing on her as she sobbed silently on the floor – vomiting once again.

"Mai!" Naru yelled as he burst through the door to see the girl vomiting in the toilet bowl. He ran to her and pulled her sweet-smelling hair back – nuzzling his nose in her hair as he breathed against the aroma.

"Naru," Mai called desperately, feeling his presence behind her as she clasped his free hand tightly, "Don't leave…please," She turned around when she was sure that her morning sickness was over and lunged at his chest, burying her head against his chest. He drew her in, hugging her back tightly, burying his face on her shoulder – his lips grazing against her skin softly. Her grasp on his shirt tightened as she ruined his shirt with her tears. He pulled up against the wall, pulling Mai with him as he straightened his legs and pulled Mai into his lap.

"Naru, Naru, Naru," Mai sobbed, "Don't leave … please… I can't do this…anymore," she started wailing. He tightened his grip on her.

"Calm down. Tell me what happened," his voice was gentle as he rubbed his hands agianst her back.

"You pr-promise that you won't…leave?"

"Yes…I promise, now, calm down,"

"O-okay," she drew in a shaking breath to calm her nerves, "I was s-scared so sc-scared – I thought I-d lo-loose y-you ag-again… I w-was ju-just so scar-ed," she gasped, "Don't leave my side, please… ever again,"

"I'm here. It's fine now,"

"I kn-know. Thank you s-so much, Naru,"

He sighed as he got up and pulled Mai along with him. He held her to his chest for awhile longer before pulling her to the sink and wiping her tears away with cold water. She let out a small squeak as his hand trailed on her face rather firmly – his movement non-suggestive and emotionless. He pulled her along to the bedroom and set her down. He pulled her medicines out and pulled her eyelids back dropping a few drops in each eye before shoving her glasses on.

"I feel like kid," she pouted slightly.

"You _are _a kid, Mai,"

"Am not!"

He sighed – when he has kids with Mai, they'd connect rather well – he blinked at the thought as he turned back to the door, his back towards Mai – hiding his slightly pink face. He pulled her along to the kitchen where Lin was busy preparing a heavy breakfast for Mai. Having woken up much earlier than Mai they had already eaten.

"Aren't you two going to eat?"

"We ate,"

"I don't want to eat alone,"

"We'll be here,"

"Okay,"

Mai sat down in the chair that sat opposite the one which she had deduced belonged to Naru. She stared broodingly at her plate of breakfast, she really wasn't all that hungry – she was still unsettled and having no physical contact with Naru made her all the more aggravated. For some reason the impulse just gnawed at her insides as though ants were crawling up her stomach. She blinked when a plate of mushrooms, potatoes, eggs, sausages and a glass of banana milkshake greeted her eyes.

"I" – she began but was cut off by Naru.

"Eat," his voice was full of authority as he glared at her with his arms crossed. She looked nervously at him as she started sweating again, her heart rate increasing and her head started pounding badly as she clutched at it with yelp of pain as an electric shock flitted across her mind and the glass full of banana milkshake broke with a crash. The bulbs overhead swinging back and forth as she shot up in her chair but toppled back as a violent jerk rocked through her body – paralyzing her for a moment as she heard the yell of 'Mai!' from two different sources as she writhed her body – drawing her knees to her chest. She felt herself being hauled into strong arms.

"Mai, listen to me. Breath in and out – you have to do that – relax your body, come on, Mai,"

Mai took in a deep breath as she crumbled in his arms – gasping and shuddering for breath. But her breath hitched again as she grasped Naru's hands for encouragement as she felt herself being sucked into darkness. She heard a cry of 'Noll!' before she was greeted with darkness and silence.

A rushing sound reached Mai's ears as she stirred slightly. Darkness… that was all she could see and somehow she knew that the rushing sound was also associated with darkness – the realms unknown and unexplored. She shifted her head – her face trailing across a smooth, soft fabric as she breathed in the scent of musk. Her feet were resting on something soft and grainy – like sand, her upper body lying on something much more solid and stronger then sand and she could dimly register the elevation of her body from the ground. The thing which she was lying on was warm and she felt strangely secure – the rushing calming her thrashing heart as she sighed in content.

She felt something snake around her waist – she cracked one eye open only to be met with black fabric. She raised her head to see that she had been lying on Naru, his blue eyes greeted her. They stared at each other for awhile before Naru voiced out his thoughts, "Mai." Mai sat up as Naru followed her lead.

They looked around. They were no longer at the apartment but were resting on a serene beach that was casted in twilight, a soft breeze played with their hair. They were alone.

"Uhhhh, where are we? How did we even get here?"

Naru stood and helped Mai up as he casted frowning eyes at his surroundings, "How do you feel?"

"Drained,"

He sighed as he turned his attention towards her, "You teleported us,"

Mai's eyes widened in shock as she flapped her arms incredulously, "Wha-? Wha-? Tele-what?"

"Mai," he gave her an annoyed look and she subsided her rant looking embarrassed, "Teleportation is a psychic ability that can manipulate physical realms and transport a person or persons to unknown locations. It's a difficult feat normally,"

"Ohhh – but where are we then?"

"We'll find out. Come on,"

"Are you s-sure that that's sa-safe?"

"Do you want to stay here for the rest of your life or want to get back to where we came from?"

"Fine," she sighed, admitting defeat.

Naru led the way over to where he deduced would be a town or city and then they could pinpoint their exact position. He took out his cell phone and found to his dismay he found no service available in the area. It was quite chilly as well as he casted worried eyes over to the already battered figure beside him which was shivering slightly. He took off his own coat and draped it over her shoulders; she looked up at him in surprise.

"You shouldn't do that, you'll get cold,"

"I'm fine,"

"You won't be fine for long,"

"I'm not in the mood for this argument,"

"But Naru" –

"Mai, even if I take it back I'll not wear it, so keep it on you,"

"You jerk,"

He ignored the last jibe as he made his way resolutely through the sand. He could see a road in the distance, it looked to be a rather lonely road but maybe luck would have their way and they would be able to hitch a ride even though Naru didn't like the idea.

All they could hope for was to wait…


End file.
